Classification
- Incident Type: Fire
- Severity: High
- Investigation Body: Panama Maritime Authority
Vessel Details
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Vessel Name | Sincerity Ace |
| Vessel Type | Ro-Ro / Car Carrier |
| Flag State | Panama [PA] |
| IMO Number | 9519092 |
| Year Built | 2009 |
| Vehicle capacity | About 6,400 vehicles |
Incident Details
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Date | 2018-12-31 |
| Location | North Pacific Ocean, about 1,800 nautical miles from Oahu, Hawaii |
| Region | Pacific Ocean |
| Fatalities | 4 |
| Missing | 1 |
| Direct Damage | The car carrier sustained heavy fire damage and was later taken under tow. |
| Outcome | A fire led to the abandonment of Sincerity Ace; 16 crew were rescued, four later died, one remained missing, and the heavily damaged vessel was taken under tow. |
Key facts
- Sincerity Ace was sailing from Yokohama to Honolulu when a fire broke out on the high seas about 1,800 nautical miles from Oahu.
- Sixteen crew members were rescued alive, while four of the remaining five missing crew members were later reported dead and one remained missing.
- Panama’s Maritime Authority assigned an investigator to examine the fire.
- The heavily damaged car carrier was reportedly taken under tow on 9 January 2019.
- The available articles do not establish the fire’s cause, a final investigation finding, or a non-fatal injury count.
Narrative
Sincerity Ace, a Panama-flagged car carrier built in 2009, was sailing from Yokohama, Japan, to Honolulu, Hawaii, when a fire broke out on 31 December 2018. The casualty occurred on the high seas about 1,800 nautical miles from Oahu. The vessel had capacity for approximately 6,400 vehicles.
The crew attempted to bring the fire under control before abandoning ship. Rescue operations involved commercial vessels and United States Coast Guard aircraft. Seatrade Maritime reported that 16 crew members were rescued alive, four of the remaining five missing crew members were located unresponsive, and one remained missing. A later FleetMon report gave the casualty tally as 16 rescued, four dead and one missing. The reviewed reports do not state a separate non-fatal injury count.
The Panama Maritime Authority’s Department of Maritime Accident Investigation assigned an investigator to determine the cause of the fire and conduct interviews with rescued crew members. The reviewed articles do not provide a final investigation report or a confirmed cause. The four unresponsive crew members were described as fatalities in the later salvage-stage report, while the initial article recorded them as unresponsive; the later tally is used for the casualty metadata.
On 9 January 2019, FleetMon reported that the heavily damaged Sincerity Ace had been taken under tow from approximately 24°43′N, 171°10′E, about 1,720 nautical miles off Japan, for towage toward Japan. This was a later salvage position rather than the fire location. The reviewed material does not establish whether the vessel was ultimately repaired, scrapped or otherwise disposed of.
Sequence of events
| Date/time | Event |
|---|---|
| 2018-12-31 | A fire broke out aboard Sincerity Ace during the Yokohama-to-Honolulu voyage. |
| 2019-01-04 | Panama’s Maritime Authority was reported to have assigned an investigator to the casualty. |
| 2019-01-09 02:00 UTC | FleetMon reported that the heavily damaged vessel was taken under tow from a position about 1,720 nautical miles off Japan. |
Investigation
The Panama Maritime Authority assigned an investigator through its Department of Maritime Accident Investigation. The available articles do not identify a published final report or establish the cause of the fire. They provide an early rescue account and a later salvage-stage casualty tally, but no formal findings on causation or fault.
References
- Seatrade Maritime, “Panama to probe cause of Sincerity Ace blaze”
- FleetMon, “Car carrier SINCERITY ACE taken on tow”