A fire has been reported on a Maersk container ship off the coast of Liberia.

The fire broke out on the 18,340 TEU container ship Marie Maersk off the coast of Liberia on Wednesday, news agency Reuters reported, citing comments from a company spokesman.

The crew initially detected smoke coming from containers on board the vessel, and were still fighting the fire on Thursday. The crew have been reported as safe.

Two tugboats with fire fighting equipment arrived to assist the vessel late on Wednesday, according to the report.

The vessel was travelling from Rotterdam to Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia at the time of the incident.