Like the proverbial Phoenix rising from the ashes, Maersk Honam has a new lease on life as Maersk Halifax..
As has been reported quite elaborately here, on the 6th of March 2018, Maersk Honam, one of Maersk’s ultra-large container ships caught fire in the Arabian Sea between India’s West Coast and Oman while en-route from Singapore to Egypt..
Five crew members perished in this incident which was one of several maritime disasters which have container ships in recent history..
All containers in the fore (front of the ship) section, from f’castle to superstructure were a total loss and this section carried containers with hazardous cargoes – flammable liquids and solid cargoes, oxidising substances, toxic and infectious cargoes, and corrosive materials..
All cargo from these forward holds were declared a total loss, but the containers aft of the ship’s superstructure were mostly found in an undamaged condition..
As part of Maersk’s Ship Recycling Transparency Initiative, a 228.5m long sound section (from mid-ship to stern) of Maersk Honam, was transported from Dubai Drydocks to South Korea to the Hyundai Heavy Industries Shipyard in Ulsan, South Korea where it was originally built..
The movement was done by the Xin Guan Hua a heavy lift vessel operated by Cosco specialising in such movements..
In Korea, the Maersk Honam got a new forward section including accommodation blocks and was delivered to its owner as Maersk Halifax on August 1..
The Maersk Halifax is one of eleven H-class vessels in the Maersk fleet operating with a nominal capacity of 15,226 TEUs operating on Maersk’s Asia-Mediterranean Jade’ service with MSC..
The Maersk Halifax comes with a re-shaped, less flared bow and an SOx scrubber to cater for IMO2020..
