Portland Country Fire Authority (CFA) crews said in an update that the fire that broke out on board the livestock carrier Awassi Express on Tuesday evening in the Port of Portland, Australia, has been extinguished.
The CFA crews have discovered that the fire started on the starboard side of the fodder storage silo on the back of the vessel and spread to the rest of the storage area. CFA added that the emergency services are continuing their efforts to tackle the incident.
“The unloading of the 800 tonnes of pelletised fodder commenced around 1pm Saturday into waiting trucks. We are continuing this process and are making good progress to unload the pellets. Fire suppression activities over the last few days to bring the fire under control and lower the temperature within the silo to a safe level has allowed for this unloading procedure to occur,” Incident Controller Mark Gunning from CFA said.
Suppression activities included the injection of an inert gas (Nitrogen) into the sealed silo in an attempt to remove the oxygen within the silo. This method has been successful in reducing the temperature within the silo.
The ship has been relocated from No 5 Berth to No 1 Berth overnight, still located within the Dock Basin to allow normal port berthing operations to continue and easier access for firefighters. According to CFA, the Port of Portland operations have not been affected by the fire on board the ship.
Crews will still monitor for any hot spots in each aspect of the unloading as well as air quality monitoring around the site.
The Panama-flagged vessel was not carrying any livestock at the time of the incident.