Cargo Ship with 2210 Cars Onboard Sinks after Catching Fire
At the moment of the incident, the Grande America had onboard freight composed of rolling units, containers and some general cargo, loaded in Antwerp and Hamburg with destination Casablanca (Morocco), Dakar (Senegal), Conakry (Guinea), the Brazilian ports of Suape, Vitoria, Rio de Janeiro, Santos and Paranagua, Zarate (Argentina) and Montevideo (Uruguay).
Total vehicles onboard were 2,210, with new ones being 1,298 (originating from the major vehicle manufacturers).
Containers onboard were 365, with 247 stowed on the weather deck and the remaining on the lowest deck. 78% of the units were bound to South America and the rest to West Africa (mainly Casablanca). Containers with IMO-classified hazardous cargo were 45, 34 of which stowed on the weather deck and the rest inside the vessel.
In the framework of its antipollution plan, the Grimaldi Group has immediately dispatched in the place of sinking of the Grande America the Anchor Handling Supply vessel Union Lynx which is monitoring any ship’s fuel spill and is organising the recovery of any floating container.
