Fire on Car-Carrier Ship Off Dutch Coast Kills One
Coast guard is investigating whether the blaze started in an electric vehicle Firefighting ships surround the Fremantle Highway car carrier after a fire broke out onboard. Photo: flying focus/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images By Costas Paris July 26, 2023 9:40 am ET The Dutch coast guard is investigating whether a fire aboard a Japanese car carrier that killed one sailor and injured several others late Tuesday started in one of the electric vehicles onboard. The Fremantle Highway, operated by Japan’s K-Line and owned by Shoei Kisen Kaisha, was sailing from Germany to Egypt and had 23 sailors aboard. It was loaded with 2,857 vehicles including 25 EVs. A coast guard official told The Wall Street Journal that while it wasn’t confirmed that the fire had started from the EVs, crew memb
Firefighting ships surround the Fremantle Highway car carrier after a fire broke out onboard.
Photo: flying focus/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
The Dutch coast guard is investigating whether a fire aboard a Japanese car carrier that killed one sailor and injured several others late Tuesday started in one of the electric vehicles onboard.
The Fremantle Highway, operated by Japan’s K-Line and owned by Shoei Kisen Kaisha, was sailing from Germany to Egypt and had 23 sailors aboard. It was loaded with 2,857 vehicles including 25 EVs.
A coast guard official told The Wall Street Journal that while it wasn’t confirmed that the fire had started from the EVs, crew members that tried to tackle the blaze said it started in the area where they were parked.
“It was a big blaze that is still being tackled with firefighting vessels and other emergency services around the ship.” the official said. “We are looking at the EVs aboard although it’s not certain the fire started from one of them.”
The ship is currently around 20 miles off the coast of Ameland in the Netherlands and the crew has been evacuated, with some rescued after jumping into the sea.
Fires on large deep-sea car carriers are relatively rare but moving EVs on ships has come under scrutiny because their lithium-ion batteries are highly flammable and can easily ignite. Several operators have introduced requirements that the batteries can only be charged to a maximum 30% while on ships to avoid overheating. Other safety measures include testing their electronic warning systems before being loaded.
Two firefighters were killed earlier this month fighting a blaze aboard the Italian car carrier Grande Costa D’Avorio when the vessel was being loaded at the Port Newark in New Jersey. The ship had more than 1,000 vehicles onboard and 157 containers but no EVs.
Ship fires are mostly caused by friction inside containers where poorly packaged cargo gets displaced as the ship sails.
Fires on vehicle carriers can be caused by loose objects moving in car trunks, short circuits in electronic parts and spilled flammable liquids.
Write to Costas Paris at [email protected]
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