Napier ship hold finally opened as fire inquiry continues

The plumes of smoke which greeted emergency services as they arrived at the fire on the Kota Bahagia last Frday. Photo / File

Fire and Emergency New Zealand has revealed a ship's hold which was the scene of an explosive fire at Napier Port has still not been reopened more than five days after the blaze.

The fire, aboard Singapore-registered cargo ship the Kota Bahagia, erupted soon after 10.30am last Friday and resulted in a major emergency services call-out, including at least 13 fire appliances and associated Fire and Emergency New Zealand units from as far afield as Palmerston North.

FIRENZ said in a statement firefighters will be opening the hold on Thursday morning and it had been closed since the event "to give it time to cool down."

A drone will be used to assist fire crews, and the ship will be moved from its No 4 Wharf berth for the first time post-emergency, so that firefighters can complete the operation in a different area of the port, with an exclusion zone enforced for 500m around the ship, within the port boundary.

The investigation into the cause and origin of the fire continues, and it is likely that it will take "some time" to complete, the statement said.

FIRENZ is working with Napier Port Co, Maritime New Zealand, the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) and the ship company.

A TAIC spokesman said it could not release evidential details of its investigation, which could take 18 months to two years and is focused around establishing whether legislation or other improvements are need to prevent a repeat, rather than apportion blame.

Crew of the 161m vessel were evacuated at the time and kept in Covid-19 isolation, but were able to return to the ship later on the day of the fire, from which there were no reported injuries.

The ship berthed last Thursday and had been due to sail on Sunday.