Damaged car-carrier ship towed to Dutch port after fire

The cargo ship that caught on fire with thousands of cars on board was towed Thursday to a nearby port in northeastern Netherlands.

Dutch authorities and salvage companies towed the car carrier that’s burned for almost a week to Eemshaven port, according to public works and waterways authority Rijkswaterstaat.

“Most of the ship has now been inspected and there are no indications that there is still a fire,” Rijkswaterstaat said in a statement. Eemshaven port is 64 kilometers (40 miles) away from the ship’s last location, which was north of Schiermonnikoog and Ameland, two of the West Frisian Islands in a UNESCO world heritage site area.

The cause of the blaze is still unknown and will be determined after an investigation at the port, a spokesperson for Rijkswaterstaat told Bloomberg by phone. No oil leakage has yet been detected, the spokesperson said. 

The ship’s crew, all Indian nationals, had to be rescued by helicopter and one person died after the fire started late July 25. The vessel was en route to Port Said, Egypt, and Singapore after a recent stop in the German port of Bremerhaven, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. 

The Panama-flagged Fremantle Highway was carrying almost 3,800 vehicles including nearly 500 electric cars. Among the ship’s cargo are several hundred BMW AG cars, plus roughly 300 Mercedes-Benz Group AG vehicles, representatives for the companies have said. BMW AG’s Rolls-Royce said Wednesday it also has a small number of its exclusive cars aboard the ship.