Container Explodes on Yang Ming Ship in Ningbo Port

One of Yang Ming Marine Transport's ships exploded on Friday, August 9 at around 1:40 p.m. local time while docked at the port of Ningbo, China.

Video taken by an office worker in a nearby building showed smoke billowing from the ship.

The 2011-built YM Mobility, with a capacity of 6,589 TEUs, was docked at Ningbo's Beilun terminal and was carrying dangerous goods, the Ningbo Maritime Search and Rescue Centre said.

No crew members on the YM Mobility or port workers were injured, although office buildings near the port were affected by the shock wave from the explosion.

According to EconDB, the YM Mobility was deployed on the China-Gulf Express (CGX) service, which calls at Shanghai, Ningbo, Xiamen, Umm Qasr, Hamad and Jebel Ali. The service is operated by Yang Ming, Ocean Network Express (ONE) and HMM.

Yang Ming issued a statement on the day of the incident, saying that initial investigations showed that an explosion occurred in a container containing dangerous goods on the ship.

The Taiwanese shipping company said: "According to the shipper’s declaration, the container was a reefer used as a substitute for a dry container, without requiring power connection.

Immediate fire control measures were taken, and the situation is now under control. All crew members have safely evacuated. Huan Ming (Shanghai) International Shipping Agency Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Yang Ming Group, is actively coordinating with the authorities to manage the situation."

Source: Container-News