TSB, Canada’s Transportation Safety Board, has released the findings of its investigation into the fire aboard the 4,250-teu containership ZIM Kingston in October 2021 off the coast of British Columbia. The event started when the vessel began rolling dangerously in a phenomenon called parametric rolling; this led to the loss of 109 containers overboard. Some 36 hours later, a fire broke out in a damaged container carrying potassium amyl xanthate, which spread to five nearby containers; the fire burned for five days.
TSB’s report into the incident highlights the need for better understanding of parametric rolling and urges IMO to incorporate new guidelines on intact stability quickly into the International Code. Also of concern to TSB is the relative weakness of Canada’s preparedness for marine emergencies. Canada does not require pre-arranged plans for fire response or marine salvage, unlike the US. In addition, the Canadian Coast Guard does not directly participate in marine fire suppression activities as part of incident response, nor does it have fire suppression capabilities to directly respond to a vessel fire.
Transport Canada (TC) intends to develop regulations to strengthen preparedness requirements for industry, for example, by requiring vessels to have arrangements for firefighting and salvage services, and by having a response specialist who could work with the federal departments and other partners to manage any incident. However, the only practical step taken so far is a 2023 amendment to the Canada Shipping Act 2001 to give the Governor in Council a mandate to make regulations. It is likely to be four years before TC is able to make any more regulatory changes.
source: https://hcblive.com/canada-needs-marine-improvement/
