It’s a disconcerting story reminiscent of that of the vessel Felicity Ace in February 2022. That ship was at sea transporting almost 4,000 Volkswagen vehicles when a fire broke out on board.
This week, another fire – this one deadly - broke out on a cargo ship carrying almost 3,000 vehicles after sailing out from Germany. One crew member died while others were forced to throw themselves into the sea. Fortunately, they were rescued, while the other crew members remaining on board were airlifted to safety.
According to a Coast Guard spokesman, the fire was caused by one of the 25 electric vehicles on board.Statistics clearly show that, proportionally, electric vehicles don't cause the majority of vehicle fires. However, when they do occur, EV fires are notoriously difficult to control, since lithium batteries have a tendency to reignite after apparently being extinguished. The Dutch coastguard reports that despite the crew's early efforts to contain the flames, the fire continued to spread, making evacuation necessary.
The Freemantle Highway, en route from Germany to Egypt, was carrying 2,857 vehicles when the incident occurred off the northern coast of the Netherlands.
A specialized salvage company, together with Dutch authorities, is working to limit the damage, both to the vessel and to the environment. In its latest update, the coastguard said rescue crews were attempting to cool the sides of the Freemantle Highway using fire extinguishing systems, but had not yet succeeded in completely extinguishing the flames.
Earlier this year, Norwegian shipping company Havila Krystruten announced it would stop carrying electric or electrified vehicles on its ships for safety reasons. This decision came in the wake of the Felicity Ace incident.