The 2,265-passenger and 2,580-lanemetre capacity ZHONG HUA FU QIANG was delivered in late September 2020. © Huanghai Shipbuilding

Major vehicle deck explosion on Bohai Ferry’s newest ro-pax

FerryBohai Ferry’s 37,192gt ro-pax ferry ZHONG HUA FU QIANG, delivered by Huanghai Shipbuilding as recently as September last year, suffered a major vehicle deck explosion while alongside in the port of Weihai in the morning of 20 April.

The 185m long and 28.6m beam ro-pax ferry had left Weihai for Dalian at 22:07 local time on Monday 19 April. Following smoke development from one of the vehicles – understood to be a car – the vessel returned to its port of departure where all passengers were safely evacuated.

The crew didn’t manage to extinguish the fire and had been evacuated by the time of the vehicle deck explosion at 11:40 local time. There were no casualties or injuries, but judging from pictures circulating on Chinese social media, the damage appears to be significant as the fire also spread to the upper decks. The incident is now subject to a full investigation.

Below, you can watch a YouTube movie showing the explosion.