Explosion aboard ‘K’ Line vessel near Indian port

   A box on board a “K” Line containership is likely the cause of an explosion over the weekend near India’s largest port complex, with the 20 crew members on the ship uninjured by the blast.
   Visible flames were reported on the 4,380-TEU Amsterdam Bridge, which is currently at anchor outside the Nhava Sheva port complex, near Mumbai.
   According to American Shipper affiliate ComPair Data, the vessel is assigned to “K” Line’s INDFEX service between China, Southeast Asia and the Indian Subcontinent, which it jointly runs with Wan Hai, PIL, and the Shipping Corp. of India. The ship was reportedly en route from Nhava Sheva to Colombo when the incident occurred.
   The maritime journal Tradewinds reported Tuesday that the ship’s manifest showed 119 boxes containing dangerous goods, out of the 1,550 containers on the vessel.
   The “K” Line incident follows three months after an explosion occurred aboard a Mediterranean Shipping Co. vessel in the Atlantic. The German owner of that vessel, the 6,732-TEU Flaminia, said the ship arrived Sunday at the port of Wilhelmshaven in northern Germany, where investigations into the cause of the fire will begin, along with the search for a missing crewman.
   Those operations are likely to take a week, with unloading of the vessel to commence after that. General average for cargo aboard the Flaminia was declared in early August. – Eric Johnson