Ocean shippers playing catch up to electric vehicle fire risk
LOS ANGELES/AMSTERDAM –
Electric autos are crisscrossing the globe to succeed in their keen patrons, 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 beneath 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 fire started in the battery of an electric car.”
While all logistics firms cope with the chance of EV lithium-ion batteries burning with twice the power of a standard hearth, the maritime business hasn’t stored up with the creating expertise and the way it creates larger threat, maritime officers and insurers stated.
There have been 209 ship fires reported throughout 2022, the very best quantity in a decade and 17 per cent greater than in 2021, in accordance with a report from insurer Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) . Of that complete, 13 occurred on automobile carriers, however what number of concerned EVs was not out there.
The European Maritime Safety Agency stated in a March report the primary cargo sorts recognized as accountable for “a large share of cargo fire accidents included … lithium-ion batteries.”
Dutch news company ANP, citing operator “K” Lines, stated there are nearly 4,000 vehicles on the ship. That complete consists of 25 EVs.
An individual answering the telephone at “K” Line’s principal U.S. workplace stated he was not approved to debate the hearth. Japan’s Shoei Kisen, which owns the ship, stated it was working with authorities to get management of the hearth.
The explanation for the hearth, whereas nonetheless formally undetermined, has raised questions on “what blind spots there are when transporting electric cars powered by batteries – which when they catch fire can’t be extinguished with water, or even by oxygen deprivation,” stated Nathan Habers, spokesperson for the Royal Association of Netherlands Shipowners (KVNR).
“The first question that comes to mind is: Does the current code stack up against the risk profile of this type of goods?” he added.
One hazard in lithium-ion batteries is “thermal runaway,” a speedy and unstoppable improve in temperature that results in fires in EVs which can be arduous to extinguish and may spontaneously reignite.
Fire extinguishing techniques on the huge ships that haul vehicles weren’t designed for these hotter fires, and transport firms and regulators are scrambling to catch up, stated Douglas Dillon, govt director of the Tri-state Maritime Safety Association that covers Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Recent fire-related losses are leading to elevated insurance coverage prices for automakers transport cargo and prices are more likely to improve for vessel house owners as nicely, stated John Frazee, a managing director at insurance coverage dealer Marsh. As ship house owners search to restrict losses by legally pursuing automakers whose autos are decided to have prompted a fireplace, automakers are shopping for further legal responsibility safety, he stated.
Exacerbating the dangers is the business mannequin utilized by the businesses that features tightly packed ships. Auto carriers just like the burning ship are generally known as RoRos, which stands for roll-on/roll-off – the way in which vehicles are loaded and unloaded.
RoRos are like floating parking garages and may have a dozen or extra decks carrying hundreds of autos, business officers stated. Unlike parking heaps, nevertheless, vehicles are parked bumper-to-bumper with as little as a foot or two of house overhead.
Firemen usually put out EV battery fires on roadsides by clearing the realm across the burning car and flooding the underside with water, one thing troublesome to do on a RoRo, Dillon stated.
“There’s no way for a firefighter in protective gear to get to the location of a fire” on a ship, he stated, including the cramped circumstances improve the hazard getting trapped.
While trains and vans additionally transport EVs, isolating and extinguishing fires is simpler 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 techniques on ships. Options being labored on embrace new chemical substances to douse flames, specialised EV hearth blankets, battery piercing hearth hose nozzles and proposals to segregate EVs.
“I see no quick solution,” Frazee stated.
The International Maritime Organization, which units rules for security at sea, plans to guage new measures subsequent 12 months for ships transporting EVs in mild of the rising variety of fires on cargo ships, a spokesperson instructed Reuters.
That may embrace specs on sorts 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 rules to account for the extra security dangers.
“There is already a whole lot of communication underway about this,” he stated, “but with this incident it becomes apparent we might need to speed up the process, especially when you consider that the number of this sort of cars is only going to rise.”
Global auto gross sales final 12 months totaled 81 million autos, 9.5 per cent of which have been EVs, in accordance 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.
(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles and Anthony Deutsch in Amsterdam, further reporting by Victoria Waldersee in Berlin, modifying by Ben Klayman and Diane Craft)
