Press Article: Fire in the hold

As larger container vessels continue to be built, classification societies and shipowners are proactively developing new and more efficient firefighting capabilities to combat the fire risks they pose. Captain Yves Vandenborn, Director of Loss Prevention, shares with Safety at Sea his opinion that although these are positive steps, more needs to be done to combat the root of the problem in order to improve maritime safety.

As larger container vessels continue to be built, classification societies and shipowners are proactively developing new and more efficient firefighting capabilities to combat the fire risks they pose. But to improve maritime safety, the causes of fires on board must also be dealt with at the logistics level.

Captain Yves Vandenborn, Director of Loss Prevention at Standard Club, shares his opinion with Safety at Sea, that although the classification societies' new class notations will be of great help on board ships with regards to fire-fighting, we should also focus on the root of the problem and prevent these misdeclared container cargoes from getting on board in the first place. 'Although seafarers undergo fire fighting training as part of their STCW training prior to embarking on board, they are not and will never be professional firefighters', 'it cannot be expected from seafarers that they will be able to deal with a fire in the same way as a professional firefighter would.' Yves explains.

Read the full article on the Safety at Sea website here.

类别: Loss Prevention