Disaster Ship Carrying EVs Abandoned in Pacific After Catching Fire - A ship carrying about 3,000 cars to Mexico was abandoned in the middle of the Pacific Ocean after catching fire Tuesday.

Car-carrying ship Morning Midas in 2020.
Photographer: Sam Croft/MarineTraffic

A ship carrying about 3,000 cars to Mexico was abandoned in the middle of the Pacific Ocean after catching fire Tuesday.

Smoke was first seen coming from a deck on the Morning Midas that was carrying electric vehicles, the ship’s manager Zodiac Maritime said in a statement. It has about 800 EVs on board.

The crew initiated firefighting procedures but the blaze could not be brought under control, it added.

The US Coast Guard evacuated all 22 crew members, transferring them to a nearby merchant ship. The Coast Guard said earlier it was sending aircrews and a vessel toward the ship where crew had been actively fighting a blaze.

Zodiac confirmed that responders are being deployed to support salvage and firefighting operations. The ship departed the Chinese port of Yantai on May 26.


Morning Midas in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Source: Bloomberg

Car-carrying ships haul thousands of vehicles at a time across the world’s oceans.

In recent years, there have been a handful of significant blazes involving vessels hauling electric vehicles, prompting concerns that the batteries inside those cars can catch light and lead to significant disasters.

Such incidents can have major ramifications for the companies that make the cars and shipowners alike, as well as for their insurers.

In 2022, a vessel carrying about 4,000 vehicles caught fire in the Atlantic and ended up sinking despite efforts to tow it to safety.

Shipowners have also taken steps to try and manage the safety risks involved in hauling electric vehicles.

Last year, a key safety group published guidelines on how to deal with fires on board the vessels.

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[tehpope]

This is taking "throwing car batteries into the ocean" to a whole new level.

 

[Elwood P. Dowd]

If there's a corner Chinks can cut, they're gonna.

I'm a bit surprised we don't see even more of this kind of thing.

 

[Nero Fiddled]

This is probably going to have a bigger environmental impact than all those 3000 EVs would have saved over their lifetime.

 

[Rome's rightful successor]

"Electric cars will save the environment!"

 

[Jimjamflimflam]

Electric eels are about to get a supercharge

 

[Oliver Onions]

"We did it, Reddit! We saved the environment!"

 

[teriyakiburns]

If there's a corner Chinks can cut, they're gonna.

I'm a bit surprised we don't see even more of this kind of thing.

There has been at least one battery-induced carrier fire every year for the last five years.

 

[Nopenopenope]

Rate me dumb, but why transport the cars with the batteries installed then? I've worked on ships, not car carriers but container ships and big oil carriers. The firefighting equipment nowadays is better than it has ever been, you can fill entire decks with foam, use water sprinklers that are a really more like misters which are almost as good as halon in certain applications. CO2 flooding is falling out of favour because while it stops the oxygen supply, the heat and fuel is still there so the fire can easily kick up again. Plus you typically only get one shot, blow it by not closing compartments etc and you just wasted it. But even with all that, I don't see any of it being effective in trying to bring lithium fires under control.

Of course it will make loading/unloading the cars a nightmare, and then what is to stop the separate lithium battery shipment setting on fire anyway, but this just all seems very dumb. Perhaps importing chink cars isn't a good idea.

 

[NoReturn]

Why would the Demoman from TF2 do this?

 

[Google.com]

Rate me dumb, but why transport the cars with the batteries installed then? I've worked on ships, not car carriers but container ships and big oil carriers. The firefighting equipment nowadays is better than it has ever been, you can fill entire decks with foam, use water sprinklers that are a really more like misters which are almost as good as halon in certain applications. CO2 flooding is falling out of favour because while it stops the oxygen supply, the heat and fuel is still there so the fire can easily kick up again. Plus you typically only get one shot, blow it by not closing compartments etc and you just wasted it. But even with all that, I don't see any of it being effective in trying to bring lithium fires under control.

Of course it will make loading/unloading the cars a nightmare, and then what is to stop the separate lithium battery shipment setting on fire anyway, but this just all seems very dumb. Perhaps importing chink cars isn't a good idea.

They design these ships to be loaded and unloaded as quick as possible, the floors are designed to easily change levels for taller vehicles, and the ability to load and unload from multiple levels at once. If the car can't move it goes from taking hours to load and unload to days. Plus a ship would still have to carry the batteries over, so what's the point.

Edit: They can charge an extra 300-750 dollar fee at each loading point for a non-running vehicle since they have to carry it out on a forklift or other vehicle.

 

[neverendingmidi]

Rate me dumb, but why transport the cars with the batteries installed then? I've worked on ships, not car carriers but container ships and big oil carriers. The firefighting equipment nowadays is better than it has ever been, you can fill entire decks with foam, use water sprinklers that are a really more like misters which are almost as good as halon in certain applications. CO2 flooding is falling out of favour because while it stops the oxygen supply, the heat and fuel is still there so the fire can easily kick up again. Plus you typically only get one shot, blow it by not closing compartments etc and you just wasted it. But even with all that, I don't see any of it being effective in trying to bring lithium fires under control.

Of course it will make loading/unloading the cars a nightmare, and then what is to stop the separate lithium battery shipment setting on fire anyway, but this just all seems very dumb. Perhaps importing chink cars isn't a good idea.

They design these ships to be loaded and unloaded as quick as possible, the floors are designed to easily change levels for taller vehicles, the ability to load and unload from multiple levels at once. If the car can't move it goes from taking hours to load and unload to days. Plus a ship would still have the carry the batteries over, so what's the point.

Also battery powered cars are generally built around the batteries. They're not like a normal car battery that can be taken out in minutes, it requires more or less taking the whole damn car apart. You might as well ship in it pieces and assemble once it gets there.

 

[Your Greatest Ally]

Gonna put the ol' Reynolds Wrap on my noggin and say the U.S. sabotaged it. (Probably not, but indulge me for a laugh.) The U.S. automotive industry would cease to exist in short order if shittily-made EVs assembled by slaves were ever allowed in the country. inb4 they were going to Mexico - hi2u dropshipping.

America is a prison colony, and the prisoners are NOT allowed things that the warden has banned.

 

[thx1138]

Yes I think this is funny but remember, EVs aren't and were never about saving the environment. EVs are about control. It's not a "solution to gas cars" it's a step towards NO cars.

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

Gonna put the ol' Reynolds Wrap on my noggin and say the U.S. sabotaged it. (Probably not, but indulge me for a laugh.) The U.S. automotive industry would cease to exist in short order if shittily-made EVs assembled by slaves were ever allowed in the country. inb4 they were going to Mexico - hi2u dropshipping.

America is a prison colony, and the prisoners are NOT allowed things that the warden has banned.

Considering the tendency of EVs to combust anyways, are you sure they weren't doing us a favor if they did sabotage it?

 

[RodgerDodger]

Rate me dumb, but why transport the cars with the batteries installed then? I've worked on ships, not car carriers but container ships and big oil carriers. The firefighting equipment nowadays is better than it has ever been, you can fill entire decks with foam, use water sprinklers that are a really more like misters which are almost as good as halon in certain applications. CO2 flooding is falling out of favour because while it stops the oxygen supply, the heat and fuel is still there so the fire can easily kick up again. Plus you typically only get one shot, blow it by not closing compartments etc and you just wasted it. But even with all that, I don't see any of it being effective in trying to bring lithium fires under control.

Of course it will make loading/unloading the cars a nightmare, and then what is to stop the separate lithium battery shipment setting on fire anyway, but this just all seems very dumb. Perhaps importing chink cars isn't a good idea.

Because pulling the battery is like pulling the engine on a r.egular combustion vehicle.

And the problem remains, lithium ion battery fires generate their own oxygen. Foam doesn't put them out. And water only works if you can put enough water to cool the reaction. Which basically involves submerging the vehicle or battery for up to 48 hours.

 

[ChompChomp]

Also battery powered cars are generally built around the batteries. They're not like a normal car battery that can be taken out in minutes, it requires more or less taking the whole damn car apart

I thought we were going to have battery swapping capability at some point? That way consumers could "fill up" in just minutes, not hours.

I guess it would be tough to do unless battery cell designs were limited to just s few.

EVs are about control. It's not a "solution to gas cars" it's a step towards NO cars.

1. I don't see the problem here.
2. Have you drive near major metropolitan areas lately? All traffic signals are designed to control the flow of traffic and are active 24/7/365.
3. Everyone is carrying a tracking device on them (mobile phone).

You don't have as much freedom to drive as one would think; you really being constantly controlled and tracked.

If you're a conservative get over your freedoms mindset and remember that criminals, by definition, don't care about the law.

So, when your local government proposes something to keep you and your family safe, they're really proposing something to enrich themselves and/or control you, not criminals.

Same goes for cops. Why do we laud them so much? If they didn't the most minimum of proactive police duty, many crimes would be avoided.

Sorry about the mini tangent!

#ACAB

 

[neverendingmidi]

I thought we were going to have battery swapping capability at some point? That way consumers could "fill up" in just minutes, not hours.

Oh there’s talk about that… but…

When I get gas it doesn’t matter if the person before me was driving a total hoopty that’s barely making it down the street without stalling, or a car that literally drove off the assembly line 20 minutes ago. Unless they drove off with the gas hose still attached, I suppose.

Not so much with batteries. You have your nice, new battery, and go in for a swap when it needs recharging… and get a beat to shit 7 year old battery that has only 30% of it’s original charge that’s functional. It’s annoying enough dealing with that at my work where I don’t own the tools, imagine you’re left to the whims of fate with the general public?

So you’d either have to own multiple batteries for your car and keep them stored/charged (and the batteries ate fucking HEAVY), or just flip a coin whenever you swapped.

There was some noise about it for company semis, since they drive a lot, but in order to power a big truck thats hauling a load, you need even bigger batteries, like the size where you need serious industrial equipment to move a battery pack in and out.

 

[Nitro!]

Every EV self-immolated is one less in the rental car parking lot that no one wants. Grind EV drivers into biodiesel.

 

[Google.com]

Its still burning





Also, only 70 of the cars are battery EVs and then 681 are hybrids.