Chopped up Maersk Honam in transit to Hyundai ship yard

The sound stern section of the fire-stricken Maersk Honam has been loaded onto a heavy lift ship in Dubai for its transport to Geoje, South Korea where it will be incorporated into a new hull. The 100,000 dwt semi-submersible heavy lift ship Xin Guang Hua took the stern half of the Honam on board with the assistance of several harbour tugs, and it has since departed Jebel Ali.

The vessels are now in transit and have passed Singapore Strait last Monday, February 18th. Maersk anticipates that the Hua and her cargo will arrive in March, and expects that the repairs will be completed before the end of the year.

Major fire hit Maersk Honam in March 2018

The heavy-lift vessel will deliver the 228.5-metres-long section from midship to stern at Hyundai Heavy Industries Shipyard in South Korea in March, the same yard the vessel was built in.

The Maersk Honam, an ultra large containership, was hit by a major cargo fire in a cargo hold forward of the wheelhouse in March 2018 while underway in the Arabian Sea. Five crewmembers died in the blaze that followed, and an unspecified number were injured. Salvors fought the fire for weeks after as the Honam drifted in the Arabian Sea.

Maersk Honam was declared total loss

Once most hot spots were extinguished, salvage tugs towed her through the Strait of Hormuz to Jebel Ali, where she arrived in mid-May. To retrieve surviving containers, cargo owners had to pay a hefty salvage security of 42.5 percent, plus a general average deposit of 11.5 percent and the cost of onward transport.

The vessel appeared to be a total loss until Maersk announced in January that it had cut the ship in two at Drydock World in Dubai and it would rebuild the ship at Hyundai Heavy Industries, where the Maersk Honam was originally constructed.

Rebuilt vessel planned to become operational second half 2019

“At the Hyundai Heavy Industries Shipyard, the sound section of Maersk Honam will be joined with a new build forward section. The former forward section is safely moored at Drydock World Dubai for continued removal of damaged containers and debris. Once cleaned, it will be recycled.

In accordance with our Responsible Ship Recycling Standard (RSRS), relevant recycling options are currently being investigated and evaluated,” Maersk said in a statement on Friday. The rebuilt vessel is expected to resume service again in the second half of 2019.