More than a year after the serious fire on board the “Fremantle Highway”, it has been decided what will happen to the car carrier.
A court has ruled that the ship can be sold to China. The “Fremantle Highway” was off Ameland on 26 July when a fire broke out on board the ship. The freighter was travelling from Bremerhaven to Singapore and was carrying 2,800 cars at the time, including 500 electric vehicles. It is still not known what caused the fire.
One member of the 23-strong crew died in the accident and others were injured when they jumped into the water. The ship burned out completely above the engine room. There was a risk of an environmental disaster if the freighter broke apart.
The company Koole Contractors, which had bought the ship from the previous Japanese owner for the symbolic price of €1, then took the “Fremantle Highway” to the Damen shipyard in Rotterdam. The plan was to sell it on to an unnamed Chinese shipyard for the price of €11m.
“Fremantle Highway”-case was heard in court
However, the Dutch Environmental and Transport Inspectorate ILT (Inspectie Leefomgeving en Transport) blocked the project and refused the export license. The reason: the ship was considered scrap and, therefore, should not have been exported to China. Koole argued that it would be more sustainable to restore the transporter. The case ended up in court in The Hague in March 2024.
As the newspaper Ostfriesen-Zeitung reported, the negotiations have now been concluded in favour of Koole Contractors. The necessary documents have been submitted so that the Panamanian-flagged car freighter can be exported to China – now under the new name “Floor”.
