Another ship up in smoke with EVs blamed
The Morning Midas was carrying 3000 cars from China to Mexico when it caught fire about 450km southwest of Alaska. On board were 70 fully electric cars and 861 hybrids. Evidently, the fire broke out on one of the decks carrying the EVs.
The US Coast Guard Alaska Division received a distress call at around 3.15pm last Tuesday. The crew of the Morning Midas were unable to get the fire under control so the US Coast Guard advised them to abandon ship. All 22 crew were flown to safety after being rescued by a nearby ship.
Salvage operators appointed by the ship's owner, Zodiac Marine, are not expected to reach the vessel until today, almost a week after the fire took hold.
Zodiac Marine said a tug heading to the ship 'will assess the vessel's condition and provide necessary support. An additional fire-fighting tug, capable of ocean towage, is also being arranged.'
The incident has underlined the safety issues with transporting electric vehicles whose lithium-ion batteries can catch fire. Such fires are hard to extinguish, sometimes burning for a fortnight.
All of the ship's fire suppression systems were 'fully operational' at the time of the incident. However the crew were unable to bring the fire under control. They were rescued by the nearby vessel Cosco Hellas after taking to lifeboats.
The current status of the ship is unknown. Vehicles aboard the ship were bound for Mexico. The 46,800 tonne Morning Midas left the Chinese port of Yantai on May 6.
This isn't the first time a car-carrying ship has burnt down with EVs on board. In 2023 the Fremantle Highway, a car-carrying ship, caught fire with about 3000 cars on board near the Netherlands. It followed the 2022 Felicity Ace disaster, a ship that caught fire in the Atlantic with around 4000 vehicles on board. That vessel capsized and sank with a full load of luxury vehicles aboard, including 1100 Porsches.
Electric vehicle fires are notoriously difficult to put out. Thermal runaway fires involving electric cars cannot be stopped by conventional means.
Following the Felicity Ace fire, Australian vehicle importer Neville Crichton said he had no doubt the incidents would drive up the retail price of vehicles, as insurance companies had dramatically increased the cost of coverage for cars at sea.
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