Fourth Maersk boxship casualty this month
The incident involving the Laura Maersk was the fourth in a string of unrelated casualties involving Maersk boxships this month.
On March 4, the container ship Maersk Shanghai informed the U.S. Coast Guard that she lost about 70 containers in a storm about 17 miles off Oregon Inlet, North Carolina. Maersk later confirmed the total number of containers lost overboard was 76.
On March 6, a fire broke out in a cargo hold forward of the accommodations block on the container vessel Maersk Honam. Five crewmembers died as a result of the blaze, and an unknown amount of cargo was destroyed. Insurers expect damages to run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. As of Monday, the Honam's escorts – the Amazon Chieftain Z, Posh Perseverance, Maersk Involver and Zwerver 2 – were under way 200 nm off Oman, heading towards Jebel Ali.
On March 15, the U.S.-flagged container ship Maersk Kensington reported a container on fire in a cargo hold while en route from Oman to Suez. Maersk said that the crew reacted swiftly by releasing CO2 into the hold and the fire was quickly contained. Maersk said that an initial investigation indicates there is no link between the cargo in the cargo hold where the fire began on the Maersk Kensington and the cargo in the cargo hold that caught fire on the Maersk Honam.