" Extreme heat was complicating the work as well as the need to keep the ship on even keel."

Apart from the need to prevent the ship from actually capsizing (as occurred most notably in the case of the fire on the SS Normandie in 1942), it is vitally important to keep a ro-ro ship on an even keel while alongside the dock because of the vulnerability of the stern ramp to structural damage. On the ro-ro I sailed on, alarms were arranged to sound automatically if the list exceeded a couple of degrees to either side. In a case such as this, where the fire-fighters were accessing the ship via the ramp, the last thing they would have needed would have been to incur damage to the ramp.

Aha... Hamburger Abendblatt reported at 2.30 pm today that the fire was completely extinguished. 12 cars are destroyed completely, several others have been badly damaged.

The reason for the fire is still being investigated...

Theo, I think Eckhard inadvertently used the same description here as in this photo: http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1794709

There you can see firemen, but soot... I don't know.

Soot,,,Firemen ?
I need new glasses ?

Fire? What happened?