The recent fire onboard the Fremantle Highway cargo ship that occurred as a result of an electric-vehicle (EV) battery has highlighted shortcomings in the preparedness of maritime shippers delivering these new-energy autos from their production countries to markets across the world.
Car-battery combustion results in hard-to-predict and even harder-to-control fires. In 2022, a total of 209 ship fires were reported with 13 being on car carriers many of which carried EVs, however, whether EVs were responsible for those fires remains undetermined.
Be that as it may, the European Maritime Safety Agency declared in a March 2023 report that the main cargo types identified as responsible for a large share of cargo fire accidents included, amongst others, “lithium-ion batteries” which are the type most frequently used in EVs, according to a Reuters report.
Blind spots in EV transportation
The fire aboard Fremantle Highway off the coast of the Netherlands, the second one in fewer than 18 months, has highlighted the need to assess the “blind spots there are when transporting electric cars powered by batteries,” said Nathan Habers, spokesperson for the Royal Association of Netherlands Shipowners.
The biggest hazard with these power modules is the phenomenon of “thermal runaway” – their tendency to spontaneously reignite after being put out for days on end as the heat transfers from one cell to the next, resulting in the need for constant oversight.
Additionally, lithium-ion batteries burn with twice the energy of a normal fire, but the extinguishing systems that are currently installed on the ships weren’t designed to handle such high-intensity flames and therefore can’t extinguish them as effectively as is necessary.
The packing of the cars creates another issue.
Unlike traditional parking garages, the thousands of vehicles that can be carried by one ship are tightly packed like sardines with barely a foot of space between them, presenting major difficulties if a fire of any kind arises, nevermind one as powerful as a battery fire.
If an EV is set ablaze on the road, firemen can put it out by clearing the space around it and flooding it with water. This, rather obviously, can’t be done on a cargo ship in the middle of the ocean.
The issue of spontaneously-combusting EVs on cargo ships is being tackled from multiple sides, by the manufacturers, the ship operators, and their insurers, but fears exist that not enough is being done fast enough.
Potential solutions currently include new chemicals to douse flames, specialized EV fire blankets, battery-piercing fire hose nozzles, and proposals to segregate EVs from regular cars; and the International Maritime Organization said it is considering evaluating new measures next year for ships transporting EVs.
The latter could include specifications on types of water extinguishers available on boats, and limitations on the amount a battery can be charged, which impacts flammability.
Habers also said his group is discussing tightening regulations to account for the additional safety risks.
“There is already a whole lot of communication underway about this, but with this incident it becomes apparent we might need to speed up the process, especially when you consider that the number of this sort of cars is only going to rise,” he said.
Keyword: Electric cars and cargo ships – Unnatural enemies