The ship entered service on 2 July 2008.”
Less than 2 1/2 years service?
Not sounding right.
Cannot imagine that whatever damage this ship suffered, it cannot be repaired.
Might take awhile, but if it ‘isn’t repairable’, how is the ship still floating?
Well, it is possible that the engines themselves are damaged beyond repair. Those puppies are huge and down in the bowels of the ship. The company may have decided that trying to replace the engines was more costly than simply writing-off the ship as a loss.
The question is whether or not it is economicaly feasible to do so. A real bad fire will melt all the wiring, destroy gaskets, melt automation controls, ect. Not to mention damage caused by the water used to put out the fire.
Most likely cause, without actually knowing, is that the fire was started by a broken fuel line. I've seen the results of a fuel line breaking and spraying fuel on a hot turbo charger. Not pretty.
With that many people on a ship, they are lucky no one died.