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Two dead in Houston vessel fireTwo dead in Houston vessel fire

A fire on board the container ship Stride has claimed the lives of two crew and a third was airlifted to hospital early on Monday morning, there were no other injuries reported.

Nick Savvides, Europe correspondent

January 9, 2024

1 Min Read
Houston Ship Channel aeriel view
Photo: Houston Port

Fire crews extinguished the fire, which occurred in the control room of the 2,174 teu vessel at the Barbours Cut Terminal, firefighters will continue to monitor the ship over a 24-hour period.

There were no other reports of injuries and there is no threat to the surrounding community. There are currently no indications of what caused the fire.

“The Harris County Fire Marshall and Medical Examiners are on the scene, conducting their investigations. Baytown and LaPorte Fire Departments provided mutual aid,” said a Port of Houston statement.

The 1997 built vessel is owned by Danaos of Greece and is operated by China’s major carrier Cosco Shipping Line, the vessel had departed Puerto Barrios, Guatemala, on 3 January, and arrived in Houston in the early hours of Monday, local time.

Port Houston owns and operates eight public facilities along the 52-mile (84 km) Houston Ship Channel.

About the Author

Nick Savvides

Europe correspondent

Experienced journalist working online, in monthly magazines and daily news coverage. Nick Savvides began his journalistic career working as a freelance from his flat in central London, and has since worked in Athens, while also writing for some major publications including The Observer, The European, Daily Express and Thomson Reuters. 

Most recently Nick joined The Loadstar as the publication’s news editor to develop the profile of the publication, increase its readership and to build a team that will market, sell and report on supply chain issues and container shipping news. 

This was a similar brief to his time at ci-online, the online publication for Containerisation International and Container News. During his time at ci-online Nich developed a team of freelancers and full-time employees increasing its readership substantially. He then moved to International Freighting Weekly, a sister publication, IFW also focused on container shipping, rail and trucking and ports. Both publications were published by Informa. 

Following his spell at Informa Nick joined Reed’s chemical reporting team, ICIS, as the chemical tanker reporter. While at ICIS he also reported on the chemical industry and spent some time on the oil & gas desk. 

Nick has also worked for a time at Lloyd’s Register, which has an energy division, and his role was writing their technical magazine, before again becoming a journalist at The Naval Architect for the Royal Institution of Naval Architects. After eight successful years at RINA, he joined Fairplay, which published a fortnightly magazine and daily news on the website.

Nick's time at Fairplay saw him win the Seahorse Club Journalist of the Year and Feature Writer of the Year 2018 awards.

After Fairplay closed, Nick joined an online US start-up called FreightWaves. 

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