BW Group tanker suffers explosion and fire off Saudi Red Sea port

BW Group tanker suffers explosion and fire off Saudi Red Sea port

BW Group has confirmed that a Hafnia LR1 product tanker has suffered an explosion and fire at the Saudi Red Sea port of Jeddah.

The Singapore shipowner said the 76,580-dwt BW Rhine (built 2008) had been hit from an “external source” whilst discharging early on Monday morning.

The master is said to have immediately ceased all discharge operations and enacted emergency procedures onboard.

“The crew have extinguished the fire with assistance from the shore fire brigade and tug boats, and all 22 seafarers have been accounted for with no injuries,” BW Group said.

Hull damage is said to have occurred at water ballast tank five and cargo tank four on the port side.
“It is possible that some oil has escaped from the vessel, but this has not been confirmed and instrumentation currently indicates that oil levels on board are at the same level as before the incident,” BW Group said.
“Cooling procedures and inerting of cargo spaces has been initiated to avoid a reignition of the fire. Ship stability is being assessed before proceeding with any further operations.”

BW Group said Hafnia had activated its shore-based emergency response team and that all relevant authorities have been advised of the incident.
This is the second incident in which a tanker has suffered an explosion in Saudi waters in less than a month.

Waterborne improvised explosive device
The Al Shuqaiq terminal was the scene of an explosion aboard the George Economou 107,000-dwt tanker Agrari (built 2009) on 23 November 2021.

An investigation into the incident involving the Maltese-flagged TMS Tankers vessels is still underway, but UK security consultancy Dryad Global said reports suggested the vessel was struck by a Houthi launched waterborne improvised explosive device (IED).
“Attempts at targeting vessels and ports via such methods are reported with relative frequency with previous reporting indicating that Saudi forces interdicted and destroyed an attempted waterborne IED targeting the Saudi port of Jizan on the 13 November,” said Dryad.

BW Group tanker suffers explosion and fire off Saudi Red Sea port

Additional incidents have involved vessels being struck by drifting sea-mines with Saudi naval forces having reportedly destroyed Houthi and Iranian mines on the 14 and 24 November, respectively.
Ther Dryad said incidents within the Red Sea have previously occurred however remain uncommon and these have typically involved the targeting of the Saudi flagged vessels in transit by Houthi Rebels in the vicinity of the Hanish islands.
Previous incidents within the Red Sea have also involved the targeting of the Iranian flagged 159,700-dwt suezmax Sabiti (built 1999) in 2019 offshore Jeddah.

Dryad said that while details surrounding this latest incident remained unclear, the presence of Houthi rebels offshore and 300 nautical miles (555 km) north of their usual area of operations would represent a “fundamental shift in both targeting capabilities and intent”.

“If the incident is determined to be the result of malicious intent, it remains unlikely that such an incident was perpetuated by Houthi rebels targeting vessels off Jeddah with a methodology similar to that seen offshore Al Shuqaiq and Jizan,” Dryad said.
“If indeed the vessel has been targeted by an explosive device it remains a realistic possibility that the vessel was targeted via the presence of limpet mines, similar to that seen deployed by Iranian forces within the Gulf of Oman in 2019.”

We have also been reports of another unnamed Greek aframax being damaged by a sea mine at the same Rudum terminal on 3 October.

Incident involving BW Rhine


For further information, please contact:
Ralph Juhl
EVP, Technical
Tel: +65 9172 3595
Email: rju@hafniabw.com
Zachary Mahon
Head of Communications
Tel: +65 9647 3605
Email: zma@hafniabw.com