A year after the devastating fire, the car carrier Fremantle Highway (now renamed Floor) is preparing to sail from the Netherlands to China.
This means that the Dutch authorities have reversed an earlier decision to deny an export license to the current owner, Koole Contractors, interpreting it as a sign that the car carrier is nearly scrapped. Koole Contractors purchased the accident vessel in September 2023 and renamed it the Floor.
It is reported that after fire-fighting and salvage operations and the unloading of the entire cargo in the port of Emshaven, the Fremantle Highway underwent 10 months of repairs at Damen Shipyard in Rotterdam, during which many of the decks were dismantled, but it was allowed to be towed to a new owner in China, and will be repaired at a ship repair yard in Xiamen, China.
On July 25, 2023, around midnight, the Fremantle Highway broke out fire the northern coast of the Netherlands, killing one crew member and injuring several others, all of whom were from India. The vessel, built in 2013, was approximately 200 meters in overall length and 18,549 tons deadweight, is registered in Panama and was chartered by Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line) of Japan at the time of the incident.
At that time, there were 3,784 vehicles on board, including 498 electric and hybrid cars, as well as some heavy equipment, with the largest load of BMW cars, possibly more than 1,000. The cars destined for the destination (Singapore) included MINIs, Rolls-Royces, Porsches and possibly a small number of cars from the Volkswagen Group.
