Her main engine, a 11-cylinder license-manufactured Mitsubishi-Sulzer 11RT-flex96C, was rated at 62,920 kW (84,380 hp) at 102 rpm and was capable of propelling the ship at 25.25 knots (46.76 km/h; 29.06 mph).

This is due to the large openings in the strength deck needed for loading and unloading containers in the cargo holds.

MOL Comfort's sister ship, 2007-built MOL Creation, was the first container ship classified by Nippon Kaiji Kyokai to use ultra-high-strength steel with a yield strength of 470 MPa in these structures to reduce the steel weight by avoiding extreme plate thicknesses.

[1][2] On 17 June 2013, MOL Comfort suffered a crack amidships in bad weather about 200 nautical miles (370 km; 230 mi) off the coast of Yemen and eventually broke into two after hogging.

[5][6][7] After the structural failure, both sections remained afloat with the majority of the cargo intact and began drifting in an east-northeast direction.

Unable to control the blaze in bad weather, the salvage vessels requested help from the Indian Coast Guard patrol boat Samudra Prahari with external firefighting equipment.

[14] The damaged bow section sank the next night at 19°56′N 65°25′E / 19.933°N 65.417°E / 19.933; 65.417 to a depth of 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) with what remained of the cargo and 1,600 metric tons of fuel oil in the tanks.

[16] As a precaution, the sister ships of MOL Comfort were withdrawn from the same route and their hull structures will be upgraded to increase the longitudinal strength.

Lines Ltd., who had launched lawsuits against MHI, reportedly on the grounds that the accident and consequent loss of ship and cargo was caused by a design flaw in the freighter.