Cars in containers are not a means of preventing dangerous fires on ships

According to industry experts, carrying cars on container ships rather than purely car and truck carriers is unlikely to reduce the risk of ship fires.

Authorities at the scene of the tragedy this week Fremantle Highway Yesterday’s fire in the interest of avoiding a repeat of last year Felicity Ace Sinking, rescue teams tried to scuttle the car carrier, but the ship was still too hot to reach.

Another attempt is expected today.

The still-burning fire nearly four days later, which killed one sailor and injured 22 others, is one of the last several examples of car carrier fires in which electric vehicle batteries played a major role.

But while the safety of car carrier designs has been questioned, there’s little hope that the recent trend of carrying electric vehicles (EVs) in containers on box ships will mitigate the problem, according to loadstar sources.

“It’s another solution… We haven’t had any issues – we hope we don’t,” said one auto-returning agent. But it will not stop a fire if it breaks out – this is due to the technical condition of the batteries. But it may stop the spread (of the fire).”

Hans-Henrik Nielsen, Director of Global Development at CargoGulf, Customs loadstar Cars in containers would be “less safe… due to the cellular stacking of containers on ships”. “So if one of the containers explodes (especially below deck), it will be very difficult to get to it to put out a fire,” he explained.

2018 fire Maersk Honam It originated inside a container of bleach in the ship’s No. 3 cargo hold, low on the stack. The fire contained all the fuel it needed packed tightly in one place, without ventilation to prevent heat from spreading to the surrounding containers. By the time the crew was aware of the fire, it had already overwhelmed the ship’s fire-fighting systems and resulted in five deaths and the loss of the ship.

“Most container operators refuse to carry lithium,” Palle Laursen, Maersk’s chief technical officer, said at the time. “It’s too capricious, you don’t even get a premium freight rate to take that risk, so why would you do it? Feeder operators like Xpress Feeders are in hysterics.” about this after ( Express Pearl) Burnt.”

“There is generally a lack of ability to detect fires in a container,” warned Peregrine Storrs-Fox, Director of Risk Management for the TT Club.

However, the gradual spread of improved container technology, including smart containers that can measure internal temperatures, may make it possible to detect fires sooner.

“You could have a thermal imager, or some kind of ability to put out fires in a container. There are ideas developed about how an electric vehicle fire can be detected,” Mr. Storrs-Fox added.