Ardent to the rescue in Hamburg

The fire started in the aft hold of the CCNI Arauco and Ardent was called in to assist local firefighters and provide the marine element of the battle to extinguish the fire. The salvage contract drastically shortened the possible long negotiation time allowing a speedy response and clean-up operation.

The aft hold was partly flooded to extinguish the fire and the resulting contaminated water safely pumped into tankers for disposal off-site. The damaged containers were discharged from the vessel by Ardent and as they were considered dangerous waste required special treatment ashore following discharge.

CCNI Arauco was returned to its owners after four weeks of work where minimising the environmental impact was a priority. Ardent described the operation as ‘technically … a routine job’ but clearly one which required close cooperation between all the stakeholders involved.

By Peter Barker