Al-Riffa

The two container vessels involved in a fire in the port of Port Kelang on Oct 28, the "San Felipe" and the "Al Riffa", were spotted in Singapore for repairs. The "Al Riffa" docked at the new shipyard in West Jurong and the "San Felipe" was at anchor at the Sudong Special Anchorage off Singapore.

The fire in the containers stacked on the foreship of the "San Felipe" may still be smoulderin. Some of the goods were combustible or explosive. The fire which spread to the "Al Riffa" could be contained soon as the boxes were empty. As of 0630 UTC Nov 2 the "San Felipe" was in the same Position off Port Klang, with the tugs "Smit Lynx" and "KST Success" alongside. On Nov 1 the "Al Riffa" with visible damage to hull and cargo at port side foreship left the terminal and was anchored on Port Klang roads three miles south of the "San Felipe". It seems like the Russian master of the "San Felipe was to be blamed for the accident. There was a pilot on board the vessel which was proceeding to a berth, but the master took over the command himself, misjudging the wind and the tidal currents, and those miscalculations lead to the allision. Photos: http://www.odin.tc/pics/alriffa.jpg http://www.odin.tc/pics/alriffa1.jpg

Two large containerships collided Tuesday night (Oct. 28) at Malaysia’s Port Klang, sparking a large fire on at least one of the vessels. The containerships involved were the Marshall Islands-flagged MV San Felipe and the Maltese-flagged MV Al Riffa. A photo from the scene shows a large fire in the cargo area of the San Felipe and damage to some of the containers on deck. A spokesman for the Port Klang Fire and Rescue Services Department said that they were notified of the incident at approximately 8 p.m. local time, according to reports. The spokesman added that a fire broke out onboard the Al Riffa and it was towed away from the scene to prevent the fire from spreading to the wharf. No injuries have been reported. Looking at the AIS data from both vessels, it appears the inbound MV San Felipe struck the moored Al Riffa. Firefighting operations were expected to continue overnight.