The 6,732-teu MSC Flaminia (built 2001) abandoned 1,000 miles from land is a potentially high value salvage contract.

The NSB Niederelbe operated vessel will have a hull insurance value of about $40m and assuming there are 4,000 containers of cargo on board with an average value of $30,000 that is another $120m.

Smit are understood to have dispatched the 16,320-hp ocean going tug Fairmount Expedition (built 2007) and the 16,500-hp Anglian Sovereign (built 2003) to the last reported position of the MSC Flaminia.

There have been no recent reports about the condition of the MSC Flaminia but the containership was said to be “well ablaze” when last spotted.

It will take the tugs, which have good firefighting capability, until Tuesday evening to reach the MSC Flaminia so the prospects of a successful salvage operation remain to be seen.

A seriously injured crewman from the MSC Flaminia has meanwhile been evacuated from the Azores to a specialist burns unit in Portugal.

Of the 25 people aboard the vessel at the time of the blaze one is confirmed dead, one missing and three receiving medical attention in the Azores. The uninjured survivors who include two freighter travel passengers are on the 311,000-dwt tanker DS Crown (built 1999) and will in due course be landed at Falmouth in the UK.

The crewmen injured as they fought the blaze were rescued by the 6,402-teu containership MSC Stella (built 2004).

NSB Niederelbe say they have no recent information about the condition of the MSC Flaminia, owned by a Conti Reederei KG scheme, but on a 16 year charter to Mediterranean Shipping Co.

The German operator is not giving any details of the cargo in the Number Four hold which was the seat of the blaze. Declared or undeclared hazardous cargo such as the bleaching agent calcium hypochlorite implicated in a number of major containership fires could be a possible cause.

NSB Niederelbe’s 1,600-teu Contship France (built 1993) – now the Marinos - sustained serious damage to both hull and cargo in 1997 in an explosion and fire attributed to calcium hypochlorite.

A number of containership owners including NSB Niederelbe subsequently adopted a policy of only carrying calcium hypochlorite as deck cargo.

It has also emerged that five deficiencies of a non-detainable nature were found on the MSC Flaminia when the vessel was boarded by port state control inspectors in December in Antwerp.

One of the deficiencies related to fire prevention provision but NSB Niederelbe is not commenting on exactly what was involved.

The MSC Flaminia was on a voyage from Charleston to Antwerp at the time of the fire with a crew of five Germans, three Poles and 15 Filipinos. The nationalities of the passengers is not known.

The hull insurance of the MSC Flaminia is led by the Swedish Club which also provides protection and indemnity cover for the vessel.

The dramatic photo of the MSC Flaminia on fire was taken from the Dr Peters controlled tanker DS Crown which rescued the crew of the containership.

"We responded immediately and did everything humanly possible to help the vessel in distress. I am extremely proud that the captain and the crew of the DS Crown acted promptly and did everything they could to save the 23 survivors. Our heartfelt sympathy goes to the families of the missing crew member and the first mate," said Jurgen Salamon, Managing Partner of Dr Peters.

"On 11 November 2002, we ourselves suffered a similarly horrific blaze on one of our own vessels, the Hanjin Pennsylvania, which resulted in the loss of two crew members. At that time, others came to our aid – this time, we were able to give aid," added Salamon.