Ocean shippers playing catch up to electric vehicle fire risk By Reuters

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Smoke rises as a hearth broke out on the cargo ship Fremantle Freeway, at sea on July 26, 2023. Coastguard Netherlands/Handout by way of REUTERS/File Photograph

By Lisa Baertlein and Anthony Deutsch

LOS ANGELES/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Electrical autos are crisscrossing the globe to achieve their keen consumers, however the battery expertise concerned within the zero- emission vehicles is exposing under-prepared maritime shippers to the chance of hard-to-control fires, business, insurance coverage and emergency response officers stated.

That threat has been put underneath the highlight by the burning automobile provider drifting off the Dutch coast. The Dutch coastguard stated the hearth’s trigger was unknown, however Dutch broadcaster RTL launched a recording during which an emergency responder is heard saying “the hearth began within the battery of an electrical automobile.”

Whereas all logistics firms take care of the chance of EV lithium-ion batteries burning with twice the power of a traditional fireplace, the maritime business hasn’t stored up with the creating expertise and the way it creates better threat, maritime officers and insurers stated.

There have been 209 ship fires reported throughout 2022, the very best quantity in a decade and 17% greater than in 2021, in keeping with a report from insurer Allianz (ETR:) International Company & Specialty (AGCS). Of that complete, 13 occurred on automobile carriers, however what number of concerned EVs was not out there.

The European Maritime Security Company stated in a March report the principle cargo varieties recognized as accountable for “a big share of cargo fireplace accidents included … lithium-ion batteries.”

There have been 3,783 new automobiles on board, together with 498 electrical battery autos, a spokesperson of ship chartering firm “Okay” Line stated on Friday. Preliminary stories had put the variety of electrical autos at simply 25.

Japan’s Shoei Kisen, which owns the ship, stated it was working with authorities to get management of the hearth.

The reason for the hearth, whereas nonetheless formally undetermined, has raised questions on “what blind spots there are when transporting electrical automobiles powered by batteries – which once they catch fireplace cannot be extinguished with water, and even by oxygen deprivation,” stated Nathan Habers, spokesperson for the Royal Affiliation of Netherlands Shipowners (KVNR).

    “The primary query that involves thoughts is: Does the present code stack up in opposition to the chance profile of the sort of items?” he added.

One hazard in lithium-ion batteries is “thermal runaway,” a speedy and unstoppable enhance in temperature that results in fires in EVs which can be arduous to extinguish and may spontaneously reignite.

Fireplace extinguishing programs on the huge ships that haul automobiles weren’t designed for these hotter fires, and transport firms and regulators are scrambling to catch up, stated Douglas Dillon, government director of the Tri-state Maritime Security Affiliation that covers Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Latest fire-related losses are leading to elevated insurance coverage prices for automakers transport cargo and prices are prone to enhance for vessel homeowners as effectively, stated John Frazee, a managing director at insurance coverage dealer Marsh. As ship homeowners search to restrict losses by legally pursuing automakers whose autos are decided to have induced a hearth, automakers are shopping for extra legal responsibility safety, he stated.

Exacerbating the dangers is the enterprise mannequin utilized by the businesses that features tightly packed ships. Auto carriers just like the burning ship are often called RoRos, which stands for roll-on/roll-off – the way in which automobiles are loaded and unloaded.

RoRos are like floating parking garages and may have a dozen or extra decks carrying 1000’s of autos, business officers stated. Not like parking tons, nevertheless, automobiles are parked bumper-to-bumper with as little as a foot or two of house overhead.

Firemen sometimes put out EV battery fires on roadsides by clearing the world across the burning car and flooding the underside with water, one thing troublesome to do on a RoRo, Dillon stated.

“There isn’t any means for a firefighter in protecting gear to get to the placement of a hearth” on a ship, he stated, including the cramped situations enhance the hazard getting trapped.

Whereas trains and vehicles additionally transport EVs, isolating and extinguishing fires is less complicated as staff can unhook a rail automobile and a trucker can pull over, stated Frazee.

Frazee expects insurers to steer the cost on strengthening security programs on ships. Choices being labored on embody new chemical substances to douse flames, specialised EV fireplace blankets, battery piercing fireplace hose nozzles and proposals to segregate EVs.

“I see no fast answer,” Frazee stated.

The Worldwide Maritime Group, which units laws for security at sea, plans to guage new measures subsequent 12 months for ships transporting EVs in gentle of the rising variety of fires on cargo ships, a spokesperson advised Reuters.

That might embody specs on kinds of water extinguishers out there on boats and limitations on the quantity a battery could be charged, which impacts flammability.

With EVs right here to remain, KVNR’s Habers stated his group is discussing tightening laws to account for the extra security dangers.

    “There may be already an entire lot of communication underway about this,” he stated, “however with this incident it turns into obvious we would want to hurry up the method, particularly when you think about that the variety of this form of automobiles is barely going to rise.”

International auto gross sales final 12 months totaled 81 million autos, 9.5% of which have been EVs, in keeping with EV-Volumes.com. China and Europe have been essentially the most aggressive areas in pushing automakers to shift to EVs, and U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has proposed guidelines that would end in as a lot as two-thirds of the brand new car market shifting to EVs by 2032.