The entire day, an inspector from the Danish Maritime
Authority has been onboard the PRINCESS OF SCANDINAVIA in
order to conduct his investigations after the fire in the
engine room on the night between Friday and Saturday. In
its investigation, the Danish Maritime Authority must
analyse the cause and the extent of the fire. A report on
the marine casualty will at the earliest be ready at the
end of June. Ship surveyor Lars Jacobsen from the Danish
Maritime Authority’s reconnaissance unit informs, that it
is still too soon to say anything certain about what caused
the fire.
“A direct comment is that DFDS and its crew have some
quite unique routines. The employees have done a remarkable
job. That is my first impression”, Lars Jacobsen says.
Safety in focus
“Of course, I am pleased that the Danish Maritime
Authority finds our routines satisfactory. Safety for the
passengers and the crew is our main concern. Now, it is our
job to establish the cause of the fire. However, the
investigations, which we have conducted today, support our
theory that a leakage from a hydraulic pipe above the main
engine caused the fire", says Thor Johannesen, Managing
Director of DFDS Seaways A/S.
During the sail from Newcastle to Kristiansand, an
additional 28 certified firemen equipped with smoking
helmets were part of the fire-fighting crew. All of the
sailing crew have a completed safety course from the
Offshore School in Esbjerg apart from the shipping
company’s own internal education and training.
Fire alert takes place by means of smoke and heat
detectors. Furthermore, central places onboard the ship is
monitored by television. Because of the extreme generation
of heat, parts of the public address system fell out of
function during Friday night. This was taken care of by
equipping the crew with walkie-talkies so that they could
inform the passengers.
Sailing to repair yard
The Danish Maritime Authority has safety cleared and
given the PRINCESS OF SCANDINAVIA temporary permission to
sail, so that the ship can leave Kristiansand and sail to
the repair yard in Denmark for further repair. It has still
not been decided, which yard DFDS Seaways A/S will use for
repairing the extensive damages on the electricity system
in the engine room. Also, it is still difficult to say how
long it will take to repair the ship. The permission to
sail is valid for three days and only to a repair yard. The
ship must not carry any passengers onboard during the
service. Departure will be Monday morning at 4 a.m. The
main engine no. 4 has been repaired and the ship will sail
normally to Denmark.
“The reason why we are departing at 4 a.m. is that the
sail demands daytime sailing. We anticipate to call at port
between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Both the classification company
Lloyds and the Danish Maritime Authority have been onboard
in order to estimate whether the ship is able to sail.
Apart from repairing the water damage on engine no. 4, we
have carried out repairs on the electricity supply”, Thor
Johannesen says.
At least one week
All services on the route
Newcastle/Kristiansand-Göteborg are discontinued until and
including 27 May. Passengers who have booked cruises in
this period will be contacted by our booking offices.
Yours faithfully,
DFDS Seaways A/S
Thor Johannesen
Managing Director