A ship is on fire off the coast of the US. A report from the US Coast Guard on 4th June said that it was responding to a vessel on fire 300 miles south of Adak, Alaska. The organisation said that its command centre had received a distress call on Tuesday from the ‘Morning Midas’, a Liberian-flagged cargo vessel which was “reportedly carrying several thousand vehicles”.
The US Coast Guard went on to state that all 22 of the ship’s crew had been rescued by a passing Cosco vessel.
The ‘Morning Midas’ Pure-Car and Truck Carrier is owned by a London-based ship-owner and operated by Zodiac Maritime, headquartered in London but part of the wider Ofer Global group. Zodiac said that the vessel was heading to the port of Lázaro Cárdenas in Mexico. Other reports state that the ship had loaded its cargo at Yantai in China, and it is the nature of this cargo that may be most relevant.
Zodiac confirmed that the vessel is carrying 3000 vehicles, of which Zodiac says that 800 are electric vehicles, although other reports suggest that the number of electric vehicles is lower and many of the others are hybrid vehicles. The ship management company also stated to a number of journalists that the fire appeared to start on the deck carrying the electric vehicles.
This accident and others like it appear to suggest that electric vehicles may continue to be a fire hazard both to shipping and, presumably, to other logistics operations. It is not known what has caused the fire on the ‘Morning Midas’; however, the circumstances do point to the electric vehicles being the source of the problem.
This incident follows on from a fire in April on the ‘Delphine’, a new short-sea ro-ro vessel, whose cargo of vehicles ignited when tied up on the dockside at Zeebrugge. The vessel was equipped with its own carbon dioxide fire-fighting systems and was able to respond, however, the fire was only just controlled, and the damage to the ship and the cargo was significant.
Improvements in battery technology in electric vehicles were meant to reduce or eliminate the issue of spontaneous fires. However, incidents such as those on the ‘Morning Midas’ and the ‘Delphine’ suggest that such fires are still a problem. Bearing in-mind that exports from China of electric vehicles are increasing rapidly it is unclear how the shipping sector and related finished vehicle logistics providers will cope with the continuing problems of dealing with handling electric vehicles.
Author: Thomas Cullen
Source: Ti Insight
Supply chain strategists can use GSCi – Ti’s online data platform – to identify opportunities for growth, support strategic decisions, help them stay abreast of industry trends and development, as well as understand future impacts on the industry.
Visit GSCI subscription to sign up today or contact Michael Clover for a free demonstration: [email protected] | +44 (0) 1666 519907
For your logistics and transportation management needs
Providing high frequency logistics and supply chain data and analysis for all those invested in the industry.