Wan Hai's dangerous cargo raises safety concern
Kozhikode: Singapore-flagged container ship Wan Hai 503, which caught fire 44 nautical miles off Azhikkal coast and is adrift, has 157 containers with dangerous cargo listed by International Maritime Organization (IMO).
The cargo includes flammable materials, spontaneously combustible substances, and toxic chemicals like pesticides. This raises serious concerns about environmental damage in the Arabian Sea.
The cargo manifest, accessed by TOI, showed that the ship has flammable solids (IMO class 4.1) in 20 containers. These include extremely flammable nitrocellulose with alcohol (at least 25% alcohol by mass and up to 12.6% nitrogen by dry mass) in two containers, naphthalene (crude or refined) in 12 containers, solids with flammable liquid in one container and paraformaldehyde in four containers.
More importantly, the ship is carrying over 4,900kg of spontaneously combustible (IMO class 4.2) organometallic substance. This pyrophoric material, which can ignite on contact with air and reacts with water, is stored in one container in five portable tanks. IMO guidelines say spontaneously combustible materials are liquids or solids that can catch fire within five minutes of air exposure or self-heat without any external energy.
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The ship also has toxic and poisonous substances (IMO class 6.1) in 20 containers. These include 800 drums of bipyridylium pesticide weighing 1,83,200 kg used for weed and pest control, 132 drums of highly toxic and corrosive ethyl chloroformate weighing 27,786 kg in one container, and many other toxic chemicals. Other toxic substances on board include dimethyl sulphate and hexamethylene diisocyanate.
The ship has around 50 containers with flammable liquids (IMO class 3).
These include ethanol, paint, turpentine, printing ink, ethyl methyl ketone (an industrial solvent), and other materials. A flammable liquid (class 3) is any liquid with a flash point of 60.5°C or less or a liquid heated and transported at or above its flash point in bulk packaging.
The ship also carries environmentally-hazardous substances, including benzophenone, trichlorobenzene, 167 boxes of lithium batteries and many others.
Spontaneously combustible and highly flammable substances have blocked other vessels from approaching Wan Hai 503 and put out its fire. Shipping experts say the fire's high heat can weaken the stacked containers, causing them to collapse like a pancake and topple. Reports say many containers have already fallen into the sea.
Azhikkal port officer Arun Kumar PK confirmed the ship is carrying dangerous cargo in four IMDG classes: 3, 4.1, 4.2, and 6.1.
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