Posted on 06/04/2025 10:14:26 AM PDT by dennisw
If fire departments on land have problems unleashing the torrent of water needed to extinguish a single burning EV, the crew of a ship doesn't stand a chance against hundreds of flaming lithium-ion batteries.
A cargo ship carrying around 3,000 vehicles across the Pacific Ocean caught fire on Tuesday. The Morning Midas, a 600-foot cargo ship, was in the middle of a voyage from Yantai, China to Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico when the fire broke out.
Zodiac Maritime, the ship's London-based operator, noted that smoke was first spotted on a deck carrying 800 electric vehicles. Once the blaze got out of control, the vessel's 22 crew members abandoned ship via lifeboat. With the ship roughly 300 southwest of Alaska, the U.S. Coast Guard dispatched aircrews and a cutter to respond to the emergency, according to Bloomberg.
The evacuating crew on the lifeboat was transferred by the USCG to one of the three other merchants at the scene, helping to fight the fire. Zodiac Maritime wouldn't comment on which automaker's vehicles were burning to a crisp.
This is an ongoing story, and we will update when we know more about the fate of the Morning Midas.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Go ahead.... put one of those time bombs in your garage with a charger.
Hell, these things were brand new. What happens as they get old and worn?
Another one?
What are we up to now on this count?
Just watched The President’s Analyst (with James Coburn, 1967). Clever scenes of egotistical and competitive CIA, FBI, the KGB and others killing each other——with names to avoid making the real ones unhappy or as a joke.
“FBR” (Federal Bureau of Reconnaissance) and the “CEA” (Central Evaluation Agency). And even a bratty boy using his junior spy set to record him secretly and excited when the FBR guy tells him “we’re going to kill him tonight”. “Oh, boy”
There was a working small amphibious car really available in those days.
Great scenes.
The 1962 car.
https://www.imcdb.org/v080329.html
I assume they are Chinese EVs being shipped to Mexico.
One of my favorite films from that era.
Kind of prophetic when you think about what the “Phone Company” was planning to do.
Quite a tour de force of the culture of the mid-late 60’s.
Metal fires can’t be put out with water - they are hot enough and chemically active enough to break the bond between the Hydrogen and Oxygen once they get started.
Rule on the carrier for magnesium fires on a jet was to push it overboard.
Apparently, you could watch it burning all the way down to the ocean floor (or a depth deep enough you couldn’t see it anymore)
Nobody would've bought them anyway, given the tariff impact to price....
Did you see the video of a Chinese man getting on the elevator, carrying a battery? It caught on fire and he died a horrible death, probably inhaling lithium hydroxide fumes plus having his skin corrode as he was still alive.
What are we up to now on this count?<<<<<<<< Five major fires on automobile transporters.
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-Perplexity AI
Over the last five years, there have been multiple high-profile fires on automobile transport ships (car carriers), with industry and insurance reports indicating a significant and rising risk:
Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) reports 64 ships lost to fires in the past five years across all vessel types, with car carriers and roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) vessels being a major part of these incidents.
Fires on car carriers have become a major loss driver, with several total losses of both cargo and vessel in recent years.
Notable car carrier fire incidents in the last five years include:
Felicity Ace (2022): Caught fire with 4,000 cars (including EVs) and eventually sank.
Höegh Xiamen (2020): Burned for eight days in Jacksonville, Florida, resulting in a total loss.
Grande Costa d’Avorio (2023): Fire incident.
Fremantle Highway (2023): Fire while transporting thousands of vehicles from Germany to Egypt.
Morning Midas (2025): Recently abandoned in the Pacific after a fire broke out among 3,000 cars, including 800 EVs.
Industry-wide, there were over 200 reported fire incidents on ships in 2022 alone—the highest total for a decade. While this number includes all ship types, car carriers have been specifically highlighted as a vessel class at high risk due to the nature of their cargo and fire suppression challenges.
Summary:
In the past five years, dozens of automobile transport ships have suffered fires, with at least five major, widely reported incidents involving car carriers. Across all ship types, 64 vessels were lost to fire, and car carriers are a significant portion of these losses due to the complexity and severity of such fires. The risk is rising, especially with the increasing shipment of electric vehicles, whose lithium-ion batteries present unique fire hazards.
That 1 in a 1,000 scenario becomes a 3-1 chance when there’s 3,000 of them aboard.
Ships will eventually stop carrying them if they have batteries and avoid carrying just batteries.
I would not be a crew member on one of those ships at any price.
Amphicars were cool.
Many years ago I was eating lunch near a boat launch. I saw one drive up and right into the lake I thought it was amazing.
Only time I have ever seen one.
.
The poor bastard survived for several days in the hospital after that.
Nothing worse than a fire at sea, specially of this magnitude. Considering the only water available to fight that fire is likely seawater in contact with all of those EVs. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near it.
There seems to be an uptick in garage fires the past few years in my neck of the woods. Local internet news site never has information on the cause of the fires. Without any follow up stories I just assume the worst, that media has an agenda to protect, and the cause is an EV spontaneously combusting.
300 what? Nautical miles? Statute miles? kilometers? Irish miles? Leagues? Lightyears? Furlongs? Parsecs? Spartans?
But seriously ... this is not the first cargo ship with electric cars on board to catch fire. Be sure to check out Sal Mercagliano's channel ...
I was gonna ask the same thing...but was gonna add “300 what? Inches?”
Wow. If only they had followed my method for EVs on those large ferries. Have a large, flat barge that you tow behind the ferry. All of the EVs have to park on the barge that the ferry tows. If, when, they start burning simply cut the tow line.
Meanwhile, in Morro Bay, Kalifornia, the Wizards of Smart are dealing with a laaaaarge battery fire that does not float, although they probably wish they could submerge and hide it. It ignited twice, and now they have to deal with the massive amount of toxicity as they clean, demolish their “bright idea.”
It is named the Moss Landing Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) if I were a person with the name Bess or Bessie, I believe I would sue.
The links below are fascinating examples of the insanity they brought to themselves. The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) would be hilarious if not for the seriousness of the situation.
https://www.readymontereycounty.org/recover/moss-landing-battery-facility-recovery-dashboard-2025
My high-school physics teacher would mark “wrong” any answer that did not include appropriate units.
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