San-Felipe

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. Photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/33438735@N08/15692198110/

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

While the fire that broke out on board the "Al Riffa" has been extinguished already on Oct 28 at 8.30 p.m. LT, fire fighting was still ongoing on the "San Felipe" in the night of Oct 31. The "San Felipe" is managed by Bernhard Schulte for Ship Finance International (SFI) and Al Riffa is owned by United Arab Shipping Co (UASC). The Port Klang Authority was working with the relevant agencies, the owners/shipmanagers, and the experts appointed by the ship’s insurance company to extinguish the fire on board completely. The "San Felipe" has been safely towed and anchored at the outer anchorage of Pintu Gedung while the fire fighting was continuing.