One of twelve ships of similar design,
MOL Comfort was laid down at
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki shipyard in
Japan on 23 August 2007 and launched on 8 March 2008 as
APL Russia for charter to APL (formerly
American President Lines). She was completed on 14 July 2008. On 1 June 2012,
APL Russia was transferred to Mitsui O.S.K. Lines' Europe-Asia route and renamed
MOL Comfort. After the structural failure, both sections remained afloat with the majority of the cargo intact and began drifting in an east-northeast direction.
Smit Salvage Singapore was contracted to tow the sections to safety. Before salvage operations of the stern section could begin, water ingress was reported on 26 June. On the following day, the stern sank at to a depth of . Some of the approximately 1,700 containers on board were later confirmed floating near the site. While no major oil leak was reported, the stern section was said to contain about 1,500 tons of fuel. On 2 July, the tow of the bow section broke free in bad weather, but the towing line was reattached the next day. On 6 July, a fire broke out in the rear of the bow section. Unable to control the blaze in bad weather, the salvage vessels requested help from the
Indian Coast Guard patrol boat
Samudra Prahari with external
firefighting equipment. By 10 July, most of the 2,400 containers on board had been destroyed by fire. The damaged bow section sank the next night at to a depth of with what remained of the cargo and 1,600 metric tons of fuel oil in the tanks. No spill apart from a thin oil film on the surface was reported. The cause of the fire is unknown. The exact cause of the accident is not known. On 4 July, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines appointed
Lloyd's Register to support investigations into the cause of the incident. As a precaution, the sister ships of
MOL Comfort were withdrawn from the same route and their hull structures will be upgraded to increase the longitudinal strength. In addition, operational changes will be implemented to reduce stress on the vessels' hulls. The sinking of
MOL Comfort cost insurers between 300 and 400 million dollars in claims. The hull and machinery of the vessel were insured for $66 million. By December 2014, the insurers (
Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co.) were among 100 companies, including Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., who had launched lawsuits against MHI, reportedly on the grounds that the accident and consequent loss of ship and cargo was caused by a design flaw in the freighter. , the loss of all 4,293 containers on board is the largest number of containers lost in a single event. == References ==