Napier ship fire: Vessel stays put at port as inquiry continues

The Kota Bahagia at Napier Port on Sunday, with no sign of the fire that erupted in a hold two days earlier. Photo / Doug Laing

Stricken ship the Kota Bahagia remains at Napier Port's No 4 with little indication of when it may move or depart, following an explosive fire in a hold on Friday.

The 9-year-old, 161m Singapore-registered general cargo vessel berthed on arrival from Chinese port Dalian on Thursday and had been scheduled to sail for China, via Australian port Geelong, by noon on Sunday.

Its departure has been prevented by the fire, which was reported at 10.44am on Friday and was belching flame and smoke from the hold by the time appliances arrived – the first of 19 firefighting and incident control units dispatched by Fire and Emergency New Zealand.

With acrid fumes threatening the port and surrounding areas, the crew were evacuated to other facilities in the port but were placed back on the vessel later in the day.

On Sunday afternoon there was no indication from ground level at the port's Breakwater Rd boundary that the drama had ever taken place, and few other details were available.

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission opened an inquiry, chief investigator Harald Hendel saying it had been told the fire originated in one of the holds.

Two investigators were sent to Napier at the weekend, with expert knowledge of marine operations, engineering, maintenance and electronic forensics, he said.

The initial investigation was to include interviewing witnesses and inspecting affected parts of the ship when it was safe to do so.