Burnt-out Fremantle Highway cargo ship arrives at Rotterdam port

The Fremantle Highway is expected to arrive in Rotterdam on Saturday, nearly two months after a fire broke out on the cargo ship. The ship left the Eemshaven in Groningen on Thursday afternoon, where it had been anchored since early August.

Fremantle Highway op weg naar Rotterdamse haven (live) https://t.co/VDlBnDXumR pic.twitter.com/BvkZpG4TKe

— Westlanders.nu (@WestlandersNu) September 23, 2023

The Fremantle Highway is expected to arrive in the port of Rotterdam around 8 a.m. The cargo ship will then be taken to Damen Shiprepair in Botlek, where it will be partially dismantled to carry out repair work. It is expected to arrive there around 11 a.m.

Cleanup and inspections will also be carried out at Damen. The company expects the work to take about four to five months. It is still unclear what will happen to the ship afterward.

On the night of Tuesday, July 25, to Wednesday, July 26, a fire broke out on the cargo ship while it was at sea north of Ameland. One person was killed and several were injured. The Fremantle Highway had more than 3,700 cars on board at the time of the fire, including nearly 500 electric cars. Due to their battery packs, electric cars can burn for a long time and are complicated to extinguish. On August 3, the ship was towed to Eemshaven. However, the cause of the fire is not yet known.

Een bijzonder beeld midden op zee, het zwaar gehavende schip Fremantle Highway passeert cruise schip AidaPrima in beeld op onze webcam op Texel, afstand 18km Aida en 26km Fremantle Highway.
Morgenochtend komt ze aan bij Hoek van Holland, kijkt u mee?https://t.co/gLyUMkMXhg pic.twitter.com/JiNUt5QMdZ

— HeelHollandKijkt (@heelhollandkijk) September 22, 2023

The burnt-out cargo ship is now owned by Koole Contractors, which took it over from the Japanese owner after the devastating fire in July. Koole, which specializes in industrial demolition and wreck removal, rented a dock from Damen for the damage analysis, AD reported.