A FEDERAL court has found the Mediterranean
Shipping Co (MSC) blameless for 2012 MSC Flaminia fire and explosion
ruled that joint responsibility was shared by the shipper, Deltech of Baton Rouge,
and the logistics provider Stolt Tank Containers, of Rotterdam.
"Specifically the fire aboard
the Flaminia was not caused by the design or neglect of the owner," said Judge
Katherine Forrest of the Southern District of New York, reported American
Shipper.
No one questions the cause of the
accident that took the lives or three seamen was the result of a runaway
chemical reaction - auto-polymerisation of cargo consisting of 80 per cent
grade divinylbenze (DVB80) stowed in one of ship's holds. DVB is an
important component of water purifiers.
The judge said the mid-Atlantic
accident aboard the 6,750-TEU vessel was 55 per cent Deltech's fault and 45 per cent
Stolt's.
The judge said Deltech made the
"fateful choice" to ship three tank containers filled with DVB out of
New Orleans instead of a more north eastern port that would have resulted in a
shorter voyage and that the chemical was stored under hot sun at a terminal in
New Orleans for 10 days, then loaded into a hold adjacent to heated containers
filled with another chemical, diphenylamine (DPA).
That heat "was a substantial
contributing factor to the auto-polymerisation," she said.
She said "Stolt possessed
extensive information regarding the heat-sensitive nature of the DVB, yet it
failed to pass information to MSC."
Stolt was "responsible for
arranging loading of the DVB earlier than it should have and arranging for the
container being transported to a terminal in New Orleans "even though it
had a reasonable basis to anticipate that the tanks would sit stagnant for a
number of days.
"Stolt's actions were a
significant contributor to the conditions that allowed for additional heating
of the DVB and thus the conditions that led to auto-polymerisation," said
Judge Forrest.
Source : HKSG.
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