UASC containership catches fire in Port of Hamburg

A fire broke out in a container onboard the United Arab Shipping Co. vessel Alula in the early hours of Friday morning as it arrived at Waltershof harbor, according to a statement from the city of Hamburg, Germany.    A fire broke out in a container onboard the United Arab Shipping Co. vessel Alula in the early hours of Friday morning, according to a statement from the city of Hamburg, Germany.
   The 2012-built Alula was arriving at Waltershof harbor in the Port of Hamburg when the fire began in a container filled with cardboard bales. The city said a team of 36 firefighters were dispatched to the scene and were able to extinguish the blaze by around 3:30 a.m. local time.
   Before the fire department could begin its work, 30 other containers had to be unloaded in order to gain access to the box in which the fire began. The 40-ft. container was then offloaded onto the dock where firefighters could safely put out the fire, which had been smoldering, the city said.
   According to ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting, the Malta-flagged Alula has a capacity of 13,470 TEUs and deadweight of 145,327 metric tons. The ship serves on the Asia-North Europe AEX1/AEC1 operated by the Ocean3 Alliance of UASC, CMA CGM and CSCL and would have been en route to Hamburg from Port of Rotterdam in The Netherlands.
   The AEX1/AEC1 is operated with 12 vessels with an average capacity of 17,229 TEUs. The loop has a full port rotation of Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Yantian Shenzhen, Port Kelang, Felixstowe, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Zeebrugge, Rotterdam, Port Kelang, Yantian Shenzhen, and Qingdao. German carrier Hamburg Sud and its subsidiary Alianca purchase slots on the AEX1/AEC1 along with Evergreen Line, Hanjin, Yang Ming, and CMA CGM subsidiaries ANL, Delmas and US Lines.
   The city of Hamburg said no other cargo onboard the vessel appeared to sustain any damage as a result of the incident.