Ship sunk due to reaction of cargo with water

On 17 February 2000, THOR EMILIE was lost. The ship had been chartered by a Swiss company to carry about 2,000 tonnes of oxide zinc ore in bulk from Dunkerque in France to Porto Vesme on Sardinia. The cargo had been transported to Dunkerque on board four barges from the seller of the material, a company in France, and the loading took place directly from the barges to THOR EMILIE.

When the ship was about 85 nautical miles south of the island of Ibiza and about 60 nautical miles north of the coast of Algeria, a vehement explosion occurred. The ship sank very quickly. Six members of the crew were lost and only the master of the ship survived the loss.

After the loss, it became known that THOR EMILIE’s cargo did not consist of oxide zinc ore, but of zinc skimming, which is covered by the IMO’s Code of Safe Practice for Solid Bulk Cargoes (the Bulk Code) as a product which may generate hydrogen in connection with moisture or water. The material, which is a residual product from galvanisation processes, had been collected from various companies in the area over a period of about six months prior to the loss.

When the barges were loaded, the material was loaded from a depot in the open air next to the factory onto trucks by means of a grab and then tipped down into the barges. Later in Dunkerque, the material was transferred from the barges to the cargo hold of THOR EMILIE by means of a crane ashore and a grab.

The INITIATING CAUSE was an explosion caused by accidental production of hydrogen.

The ship cargo was known and declard as zink ore, but in fact it was cosnsiting of zinc skimming. it is nkown that zinc skimming generates hydrogen in connection with moisture or water, and therefore its transport is covered by specific provision in the IMO ' Bulk Code' .
Experts of the shipping company and of the shipper studied samples of the load materials. They concluded that the cargo generated hydrogen in reaction with water.

The ROOT CAUSE can be identified in lack of control of the cargo compositions, and probably a lack of knowledge of the related hazards and and the required preventive measures. Since the chemical phenomena causing the incident were well known and regulated by a IMO code , this absence of proper risk assessment should be assigned to a management failure, combined possibly with a failure of the procedures along the control chains for the cargo's.

Ship cargo, zinc skimmings

When the barges were loaded, the material was loaded from a depot in the open air next to the factory onto trucks by means of a grab and then tipped down into the barges. Later in Dunkerque, the material was transferred from the barges to the ship cargo by means of a crane ashore and a grab.

ix members of the crew were lost and only the master of the ship survived the loss.
Loss of ship.

According to a news site ing.dk (see references), the investigation report of the Danish Maritime Authority, among other things, criticised the shipping company for not having sufficiently and adequately documented that the cargo was dangerous and could explode during transport.

The report recommended the shipping company to improve all their information about the cargo before a transport is agreed.