At 2115 on 11 February 2023, a fire broke out in the engine room of the roll-on/roll-off passenger ferry Stena Europe while on passage from Rosslare, Ireland, to Fishguard, Wales.
The fire on board ro-ro ferry caused significant damage to the engine room but nobody was injured and there was no damage to the environment. The fire was extinguished by the crew.
Safety issues
• The fire ignited on a main engine when pressurised fuel from a loose fuel pipe connection sprayed onto a high temperature exhaust pipe. Neither of the designed protections against fuel fires (spray shielding on fuel pipes and insulation of hot surfaces) were effective.
• The original fuel pipe connections had previously been identified as a system weakness, but the manufacturer’s recommended modifications had not been fitted to the engine.
• The ship’s crew were insufficiently trained to inspect engine fuel systems.
• The temperature measuring equipment used by the crew to monitor the engine exhaust insulation did not effectively identify any hot spots.
Recommendations
A recommendation (2024/170) has been made to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to submit a paper to the IMO proposing the introduction of a requirement for the use of thermographic equipment to identify exposed high temperature surfaces. Recommendations (2024/171 to 2024/174) have also been made to Stena Line Ltd to: review the existing defect reporting system; provide training to improve equipment inspections; promulgate details of this accident to the ships in its fleet; and introduce the use of thermal imaging cameras for the identification of exposed high temperature surfaces.
Read the report: MAIB investigation report 20-2024: Stena Europe