THE owner of the 4,024-TEU Hanjin Osaka has declared "general average" cargo loss following an explosion on January 8 in its main engine off Japan while bound for the US, reports American Shipper.

The engine crankcase oil mist alarm sounded, followed by an explosion. As repairs could not be made at sea, the ship was towed to Hakodate anchorage off the Japan's Hokkaidooff island where repairs were done and the ship resumed its voyage on February 4, said the report.

MS Pelapas GmbH & Co. KG is the vessel owner, according to the shipping information database Equasis. It lists F Laeisz as the ship manager, and a brochure on the F. Laeisz Website says the 1992-built Pelapas and its sister ships Perugia and Pereira are under long-term time charters to Hanjin.

The ship sailed from Busan on January 5 with 3,742 TEU, bound for the US, according to a Declaration of General Average dated February 7.

ComPair Data said the ship operates in Hanjin's AWE-1 service from Asia to the US east coast. The CKYH alliance service has Cosco, "K" Line, and Yang Ming as space-sharing partners and normally rotates through Shanghai, Busan, New York, Wilmington, Savannah, Busan and back to Ningbo.

The ship is now heading for Long Beach, said David Clancey of Clancey Vanguard, a London-based company that's acting as the general average adjusters.

A general average is a loss that arises from the reasonable sacrifice at a time of peril of any part of a ship or its cargo for the purpose of preserving the ship and the remainder of its cargo takes place. In such cases, all cargo owners, or their insurance companies, share the costs of the wider loss.