UPDATE: Ocean Drover Fire Contained

After over 18 hours the fire on board the livestock carrier Ocean Drover in Fremantle Harbour WA, Australia, has been extinguished.

One Filipino seafarer remains in a critical condition after sustaining burns and smoke inhalation after yesterday’s fire.

Another two seafarers who were taken to hospital have been cleared for release and will join the other 52 crew in accommodation being provided by the Australian shipping company – Wellard, according to the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA).

International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) Inspector Keith McCorriston said the fire took more than 18 hours to extinguish and he believes the ship will be unable to sail in its current condition.

Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) crews are continuing thermal monitoring this morning and the work of assessing the cause of the fire and extent of the damage will begin once safe entry is available, the Freemantle Ports said in a release.

“At about 0900 on 9 October, a fire was reported to have started in the ship’s accommodation. The ship’s crew and local authorities responded to the fire. All the crew were accounted for and one crew member was sent to a hospital ashore for treatment to burns,” the Australian Transport Bureau’s report from yesterday said.

Ocean Drover, the world’s largest, purpose-built livestock carrier, is operated by Singapore-based Wellard Ships.

The vessel was scheduled to load 6,000 cattle and take on more livestock in Darwin next week before heading to Indonesia.

The extent of the damage is unknown, however, ATSB assigned the fire with “serious incident” category.

Managing director of Wellard, Mauro Balzarini,  told ABC that the vessel will be out of action for months.

Fortunately, there were no livestock on board when the fire started.

The ATSB has commenced an investigation into this accident. The Bureau said it would designate an investigation team to collect relevant evidence including interviewing directly involved parties.

Report on the investigation is expected by September 2015.

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) says that the major blaze on board the livestock carrier Ocean Drover in Fremantle once again shows the dangers of sub-standard Flag of Convenience (FOC) shipping.

ITF Australia Co-ordinator Dean Summers said  around 70 seafarers from the Philippines and India work on the vessel, which is Australian-owned, managed in Croatia, and flagged in Singapore.

“As always our first concern is for the seafarers who are often forced to live in unsafe, cramped and dangerous conditions,” Mr Summers said.

“The crew does not have the appropriate ITF agreement to guarantee minimum pay and conditions for those working on board the vessel.

“Unfortunately the Australian owners have used the FOC system which has been at the centre of serious problems in the region.”

The ship owners, Wellard Estates, also operate two sister ships – the Ocean Swagman and Ocean Outback – which also trade to south-east Asia Australia under the same arrangements, according to MUA.

The departure of two ships  was delayed  yesterday but the Inner Harbour  was re-opened to shipping  at 4 p.m. yesterday afternoon. Cargo handling operations have resumed at the Fremantle port, the port authority said this morning.