Ocean Oct 10, 2026 · 7 min read

HMM Platinum fire: general average looks likely for 2,300 Santos-bound boxes

HMM Platinum fire puts 2,300 boxes on course for general average. A container fire on the HMM Platinum, a 5,593 TEU ship (twenty-foot equivalent units), off southern Madagascar has about 2,300 boxes from Kattupalli to Santos heading for a South African port of refuge. According to Splash247, salvor SMIT is engaged and “a declaration of general average is considered likely”. Under general average, every cargo owner shares the cost of saving the voyage. Our view: uninsured shippers are exposed. In a 2017 fire on the same coast, uninsured cargo faced a cash deposit of 28% of invoice value, according to Norton Rose Fulbright. We expect a declaration by late October.

HMM Platinum fire: cargo owners on 2,300 boxes should prepare for general average
A fire in a container aboard the HMM Platinum, a ship of 5,593 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units, the standard measure of container capacity), off the southern tip of Madagascar, has left about 2,300 boxes stuck on their way from Kattupalli in India to Santos in Brazil. The ship is now looking for a port of refuge in South Africa. Salvage firm SMIT has been hired, and according to Splash247, “a declaration of general average is considered likely”.
General average (GA) is an old maritime rule. When a ship’s master spends money or sacrifices property to save the voyage, everyone with a stake in that voyage shares the bill. That includes cargo owners whose boxes never got warm.
Our view: GA here is close to certain, and the real cost to cargo owners will be the security they must post before their boxes are released, not just the fire damage. Shippers and consignees without proper cargo insurance are the ones exposed. Forwarders who move India–East Coast South America cargo should be calling customers this weekend, not next week.

What we know so far

According to W.E. Cox, as reported by Splash247, the HMM Platinum is a Liberian-flagged ship built in 2013. The fire started in a container. Cargo claims firm WK Webster puts the location off Lavanono, near Madagascar’s southern tip, and says some of the cargo is temperature-sensitive. Claims specialist W.E. Cox put the count at about 2,300 containers and warned that “damage could be substantial”.
The plan was to divert to Durban, with arrival expected on 8 October, according to Splash247. A later casualty advisory named Gqeberha, formerly Port Elizabeth, as a possible port of refuge instead. A port of refuge is a harbour a damaged ship heads for so it can be made safe, inspected and, if needed, have cargo discharged.
SMIT is working under Lloyd’s Open Form (LOF). That is the standard salvage contract, built on “no cure, no pay”. The salvor is paid only if it saves something, and the award is set afterwards based on what was saved. That award, along with the cost of fighting the fire and the time at the refuge port, is the type of expense GA exists to spread.
What we do not know yet: when the fire started, whether it is out, what caused it, and how many boxes are damaged. None of those are in the public reports.

Why general average looks almost certain

Three things point the same way.
First, the salvor is on LOF. Salvage costs are one of the standard items shared in GA, according to Miller Thomson’s explainer on the rule. Once a salvor is engaged on these terms, owners usually look to share the bill.
Second, the ship is diverting. The costs of entering a port of refuge, handling cargo there and getting back on route are classic GA expenses.
Third, the fire-fighting itself. Accidental fire damage on its own does not qualify, but damage done on purpose to put the fire out can, according to Miller Thomson. Water and CO2 pumped into a hold can ruin cargo the fire never reached.
The precedent is strong. Maersk declared GA after the Maersk Honam fire in March 2018, on a ship carrying 7,860 containers, according to Shepstone & Wylie. The owners of the ZIM Kingston declared GA on 1 November 2021 after the ship lost 109 containers and caught fire on its way from Busan to Vancouver, according to Miller Thomson. After a serious box-ship fire, a declaration is the norm.

What GA costs cargo owners

The maths is simple. “Compensation is made by levying a proportionate contribution on all parties to the voyage,” Miller Thomson writes. Each party pays in line with the value it has at stake. A container of electronics pays more than a container of scrap.
Before cargo is released, the average adjuster, the specialist who works out who owes what, collects security from every cargo interest. According to Shepstone & Wylie, cargo owners must provide this before they can claim their goods.
What that security looks like depends on insurance. Insured cargo can usually be covered by a letter of guarantee from the insurer, according to Miller Thomson. Uninsured cargo needs money up front.
That deposit is not small. When the APL Austria caught fire off South Africa’s Eastern Cape in February 2017 and put into the Port of Ngqura at Port Elizabeth, the cash deposit for uninsured cargo was “set at 28% of the invoice value of the cargo”, according to Norton Rose Fulbright. The firm says such a deposit is usually a reasonable indication of the contribution the owners will seek from cargo.
It also takes time to get money back. Norton Rose Fulbright notes that a GA adjustment “can take up to 10 years to finalise”. A cash deposit can be tied up for years.
The fix is cover that includes GA. “It is therefore essential to purchase cargo insurance which covers general average, for example the Institute Cargo Clauses (A),” wrote Shepstone & Wylie. Institute Cargo Clauses (A) is the widest of the standard marine cargo covers. The trouble comes with shippers who saved money by skipping insurance.

It has happened on this coast before

HMM has been in this position before. In December 2024 the 6,350 TEU HMM Tacoma had a fire in hold no. 7 while sailing through the Mozambique Channel, according to W.E. Cox. The port of refuge was thought to be in South Africa. W.E. Cox said at the time that the casualty “may also give rise to General Average that will require Cargo interests to provide General Average Security”.
The APL Austria case in 2017 is even closer on geography. Same coast, the same kind of incident, and a 28% deposit for uninsured cargo.
Box-ship fires keep happening. Norton Rose Fulbright traces a number of them to dangerous goods declared as something else. Calcium hypochlorite is a common culprit, and the firm says “less scrupulous shippers misdeclare it as fertilizer or other more stable compounds”. We do not know the cause on the HMM Platinum, and nothing published so far points to one.

What forwarders should do now

If you have boxes on this ship, here is the practical list.
Find them. Pull every booking and bill of lading on the HMM Platinum out of Kattupalli. Check whether any cargo was transhipped onto it from other services.
Check cover. For each shipment, confirm who insured it under the Incoterms used, the standard trade terms that set who pays for what. On CIF or CIP, the seller arranged insurance. On FOB or FCA, the buyer in Brazil should have. Make sure the policy covers GA.
Tell insured clients to call their insurer now. The insurer issues the GA guarantee once the adjuster sends the forms. That is far quicker than arguing over a cash deposit later.
Warn the uninsured. A shipper with no cover will be asked for cash. On the APL Austria numbers, that was more than a quarter of the cargo’s value. Some will decide the cargo is not worth paying to release. Better they decide now than at the port.
Flag the reefers, the refrigerated boxes. Temperature-sensitive cargo has been at sea through a fire with no clear arrival date. Line up surveyors for arrival and keep temperature records for claims.
Manage the Brazil end. Consignees in Santos face a long wait. Some will need replacement stock shipped or flown. Expect questions about demurrage and detention, the charges for holding containers too long, and who pays them. Read the carrier’s tariff before promising anything.
Keep the paper trail. Save every carrier notice, adjuster letter and insurer email in one place. GA files run for years, and the person who booked the shipment may have moved on by the time the final adjustment arrives.
For the lane as a whole, this is one ship. India–East Coast South America capacity will not shift in any way the market notices. The pain falls on the shippers and consignees with boxes on board.

Our call

We expect the owners to declare general average within two weeks, by around 24 October, once the ship reaches a South African port and the damage is surveyed. We expect the adjuster to set the cash deposit for uninsured cargo in double digits as a share of cargo value, in the range of the APL Austria’s 28%. And we expect most of the 2,300 boxes to reach Santos at least four to six weeks later than planned. Cargo with a GA guarantee in place will move first. Cargo without one will wait.

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