Misdeclared lithium battery cargo caused Cosco Pacific fire

© Vladimir Serebryanskiy | Dreamstime.com - Nakhodka. Russia -July 06, 2016: View from the bridge of the ship for bunkering fuel container ship Cosco company.

After yesterday’s news of the first containership fire of 2020, worldmaritimenews reports that Chinese authorities have moved with amazing speed to identify the cause of the blaze which broke out on the Cosco Pacific on 5 January en route from Port Klang to Jawaharlal Nehru Port: a shipment of misdeclared lithium batteries. Cosco said the three containers in which this cargo was loaded were Wan Hai units, due to be unloaded in India, declared as “spare parts and accessories”.