A spate of containership fires has forced carriers to take action with fines for misdeclared cargoes. It is unlikely to change the behaviour of the criminally minded.

Another week, another containership fire. Fortunately, there were no fatalities when a blaze occurred in the aft section of the APL Le Havre (10,106 teu) on Friday 9 August off the Indian west coast, but the list of similar incidents is growing at an alarming rate and carriers are starting to roll-out fines in a bid to improve matters.

While the cause of the fire is still being investigated, the latest incident is the eighth this year alone involving a ship carrying containers (see table), well above the 60-day average for major fires cited earlier this year by TT Club, a transport and logistics insurer.