[1][2] She was delivered in Japan in 1990 to Japanese container line NYK and scrapped in China in November 2011.

Two nearby containers were: "...loaded with barrels of camphene-90 wax, a class 4.1 dangerous cargo."

The weather conditions proved too extreme for the 140-ton Firebird, the Canadian Forces' dedicated fireboat, to leave harbour.

The Canadian Coast Guard vessels arrived, but the weather prohibited anything beyond standing by.

It was not considered safe to allow Kitano to enter Halifax Harbour for almost 24 hours because of the danger of the fire spreading to the containers filled with camphene-90 wax.