A cargo vessel suffered an onboard fire while moored at one of the docks at the Port of Antwerp in Belgium on Wednesday, July 16.
The Dutch-flagged general cargo ship FWN Adriatic was laden with vehicles and plasterboard when the blaze ignited shortly after 10:00 local time on Wednesday.
A fireboat arrived at the port just as the ship became engulfed in smoke, though responding firefighters were able to flood the holds with CO2 in addition to closing some of the hatches, thereby reducing the volume of smoke escaping into the atmosphere.
Due to the smoke billowing from the ship, the municipal government of Merksem just outside the port had warned residents to keep their doors and windows closed to prevent discomfort.
The Port of Antwerp Bruges had advised the crews of passing ships to navigate with caution and to temporarily switch off their ventilation systems.
The incident on FWN Adriatic occurred less than two months after the ship was delivered newly built to ForestWave, a subsidiary of Dutch shipping company the Spliethoff Group.