The Electric: A New Concern for EVs: Fires Aboard Transport Ships

One sailor died and seven were injured jumping overboard when the car carrier Fremantle Highway, ferrying 498 EVs and more than 3,000 other vehicles, caught fire last week near the Netherlands. Photo: Dutch Coast Guard/Anadolu/Getty

Steve LeVine

Shipping companies have urged international maritime regulators to create safety rules for transporting electric vehicles after a spate of fires aboard freighters carrying EVs, including one last week near the Netherlands that killed a crew member and injured seven others.

In the latest accident, the 650-foot Fremantle Highway caught fire July 26 en route from Bremerhaven, Germany, to Singapore with 3,783 vehicles aboard, including 498 EVs. It took until Sunday for the fire and smoke to subside sufficiently for tugboats to pull the freighter out of shipping lanes. Authorities do not know how the fire started, but shipping operators “are calling for acceleration [of new regulations] after this new incident,” Nathan Habers, spokesperson for the Royal Association of Netherlands Shipowners, told me in a message.