Fire-damaged container ship off Monterey coast being towed to Bay Area

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The U.S. Coast Guard responds to a fire on the container ship, NYK Delphinus, several miles off the Monterey Bay coast of California on Friday, May 14, 2021. The ship was bound for the Port of Oakland. (Photo: U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Southwest)

OAKLAND, Calif. - A container ship that caught fire last week off the Monterey coast is being towed to the Bay Area with the goal of eventually berthing the burned vessel at the Port of Oakland after an inspection, the U.S. Coast Guard said Sunday.

An engine-room blaze on NYK Delphinus was reported about 5 a.m. Friday when the ship was about 50 miles west of Monterey.

All 24 crew members aboard were safe and accounted for after the fire, the Coast Guard said.

Three tugboats are currently bringing the ship to a location off Point Reyes, where fire and salvage teams will conduct structural integrity inspections and examine damage to the engine room, Coast Guard officials said Sunday.

After inspections are completed, the ship will be towed to Terminal Berth 22 at the Port of Oakland.

The NYK Delphinus is about 322 yards long and 35 yards wide, according to the website marinetraffic.com. It was built in 2007 and can carry 4,888 20-foot shipping containers.

Based in Liberia, the ship had left the Fraser River in Canada on May 7, according to marinetraffic.com. The website and the Coast Guard both reported the ship was bound for Oakland; it had passed San Francisco Bay and was heading north again when the fire began.

There have been no reports of pollution resulting from the blaze, the Coast Guard said.

After crew members on the ship reported the fire on Friday morning, Resolve Marine, a maritime emergency response company, contracted with five tugboats that helped extinguish the blaze.

No other details about the fire or the ship or its cargo have been released.