SeatradeMaritime: Marie Maersk seeks supplies as stubborn fire burns

Container ship Marie Maersk is heading to pick up firefighting supplies as a specialist team seeks to fully extinguish cargo fire.

Danish carrier Maersk reports that the crisis team which boarded its stricken vessel, Marie Maersk, is heading east to pick up firefighting supplies from another vessel, according to the latest update from the carrier.

Marie Maersk is slowly making its way to meet another offshore supply vessel to take on board more firefighting equipment, according to a Maersk statement, which added that the fire in the forward bays of the vessel is not completely extinguished, but is under control.

“One container which has been flooded with water still shows an elevated temperature,” said Maersk, according to reports from specialist firefighting team that managed to board the vessel on 19 August and are now assisting the crew to contain and eventually extinguish the cargo.

The blaze appears to have started in the bays ahead of the accommodation block, which is located nearer the bow than the stern on the Triple-E vessel design, complicating the safety operation as specialists discuss the next steps.

“The expert Crisis Response Team of Maersk remains in constant touch with the vessel crew, salvage operator, flag state authority and classification society to take qualified decisions about the next steps,” said the Danish carrier.

It has not been possible to offer information on the precise details on the impact on cargo containers in the forward bays of the vessel, but the carrier said it is offering as much detail as possible depending on the position of a customer’s container.

Related:Marie Maersk joins growing list of container cargo fire casualties

A port of refuge remains under discussion “with the goal of finding the best solution for our crew, our customers and their cargo,” said Maersk.

Crew on the vessel first detected smoke coming from cargo containers on 13 August, while the vessel was offshore from Liberia, West Africa, having left the Netherlands and heading around the Cape to Tanjung Pelepas.

The 19,076 teu Marie Maersk is a Danish flagged Triple-E ship built in 2013 in South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering yard on Geoje Island.

Evercore ISI has put a target price of $23 on the shares, trading at around $20 following the Q2 report. Prices had touched $14 per share in early April, before moving into the present upward trend.

At Jefferies, analyst Omar Nota, which has also put a $23 target on share pricing, and suggested that TRMD shares will likely see “higher sequential 3Q result and likely upwards revisions to consensus estimates, which is consistent with other product companies that have reported results this earnings season (STNG and ASC)”.

He also discussed differences between the product and crude sectors- noting that: “This compares to crude tankers which have thus far seen revisions lower for 3Q as a result of softer rates. Both sectors look set for much stronger results in 4Q on higher OPEC+ volumes. However, thus far in 2025 the equity markets have favored crude tankers while products have lagged, despite the fact that companies in both segments have reported matching EBIT margins during 1H25 and so far spot rates suggest product margins will outpace crude during 3Q. Given product equities remain down 5% year-to-date while crude equities have risen 25%… we see a catch-up trade in the coming months.”

Related:Finland charges officers of Eagle S for cutting undersea cables

TRMD, in its market outlook presented to investors, said: “At the beginning of the third quarter, clean petroleum product trade volumes surged to the levels last seen in early 2024. This was mainly driven by increased exports from the Middle East, where widening East-West diesel arbitrage resulted in increased loadings towards Europe. Additionally, product exports from China increased significantly, while flows from the Americas kept their strength.”  Unpredictable political developments across geographies are always a factor when the subject turns to tanker shares. Investors have not forgotten the sector’s boom in mid-2024 (prompted by lengthening voyage patterns) when the TRMD shares reached as high as $38 per share.