Ship loaded with electric cars sinks in the Pacific Ocean after catching fire

The ship Morning Midas, which caught fire in the Pacific Ocean earlier this month, sank. THE vessel was abandoned in the middle of the Pacific Ocean – about 580 kilometers from the coast – after a fire. It carried about 3,000 vehicles, of which approximately 800 were electric.

The damage caused by the fire was aggravated by severe weather conditions, which made the ship start to board water and, finally, to sink on Monday, the 23rd, said the vessel management company, Zodiac Maritime, in a statement released on Tuesday.

According to Zodiac, when the incident occurred, smoke was initially observed from one of the convesters carrying electric vehicles. Immediately, the crew started the fire fighting procedures, but the flames could not be controlled, the company added. The United States Coast Guard removed all 22 crew members of the vessel, transferring them to a nearby merchant ship.

Read more: Fire destroys ship burned on the sea with 3,000 cars; See images

The ship’s long distance from the coast – he sank into an area of ​​the ocean about 5,000 meters deep – also made a quick response difficult. The second of three specialized ships that were scheduled to provide assistance only arrived on the scene on June 15, more than a week after the fire began.

The ship carried cars from various automakersincluding Chery Automobile and Great Wall Motor, bound for Mexico, according to people familiar with the subject.

The ship departed from the Yantai Chinese Port on May 26, according to Bloomberg -compiled vessel tracking data. Before that, it scaled on two other ports of the country: Nansha, in the South, and Shanghai.

New risk for maritime transportation industry

Demand for lithium -ion batteries, including EVs, is bringing a new risk to the global maritime transport industry, especially considering the value of vehicles aboard the largest car transporters, according to a report released last month by insurance giant Allianz.

Although these ships transport thousands of vehicles at once by the world’s oceans, some significant fires have aroused concerns about this type of transport. These incidents may have major repercussions for automakers, shipowners and insurance companies.

Fires involving electric vehicles are often more difficult to erase and more dangerous to combat. The conditions of a cargo ship crowded with limited ventilation, which can quickly intensify heat. The confined and steel -covered environment makes fire suppression and rescues significantly more dangerous.

Also, when an electric vehicle catches fire, the fire lasts longer and reaches higher temperatures. Flames may end up spreading rapidly through chain reactions and get out of control, in a process known as Thermal Runaway. Fires in electric vehicles may require up to 30,000 liters of water to cool lithium -ion batteries.

In 2022, a ship carrying about 4,000 vehicles caught fire to the Atlantic and ended up sinking despite the efforts to tow it to a safe place. A year later, another ship with almost 3,000 cars on board caught fire near the Dutch coast.

Ship owners have taken steps to try to manage safety risks involved in transporting electric vehicles. Last year, an important security group published guidelines on how to deal with fires aboard these vessels.