Fire safety drill held at Klaipėda port simulating fertiliser cargo incident

A large-scale fire safety exercise was conducted at the Klaipėda Container Terminal on Wednesday, simulating a fire involving a fertiliser cargo, Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT reports.

The drill replicated a scenario in which diammonium phosphate—a non-hazardous but chemically specific fertiliser—caught fire during loading operations, with two workers reportedly injured. Emergency responders practised evacuating the victims while containing the blaze using specialised firefighting methods.

Algirdas Pauliukevičius, a specialist from the Emergency Management Department, explained that the fertiliser requires targeted response measures, including sewer system closures and the use of dedicated firefighting agents. “These are non-hazardous fertilisers, but they do demand specific knowledge,” he stated.

Vaidotas Šileika, general director of the Klaipėda Container Terminal, noted that while the port handles many hazardous cargoes, advance declarations and designated storage zones—monitored via video surveillance—help mitigate risks. “We receive prior information about these shipments and store them in specialised areas under constant observation,” he said.

The exercises, held every three years, follow a real incident last year when a fire broke out in a maritime container unloaded from a vessel. The blaze was contained after a worker spotted smoke in time.