The car carrier on fire near the Netherlands coast has almost 500 electric cars on board, according to its operator, more than was previously reported.
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The car carrier on fire near the Netherlands coast has almost 500 electric cars on board, according to its operator, more than was previously reported.
The cause of the blaze on the Fremantle Highway is still unknown, according to the Dutch coast guard, which previously said the initial cargo list they received suggested just 25 EVs were on the ship.
Whether EVs had anything to do with precipitating the fire, the number on board is relevant to what’s likely to be a days-long effort to extinguish it. Lithium-ion battery fires burn hotter and last longer than gasoline. They can also be difficult to put out, sometimes reigniting hours or days later.
The temperature on board the Fremantle Highway dropped significantly on Friday and the smoke also dissipated, allowing a salvage company crew to board the boat and establish a more robust connection with their vessels, the coast guard said in a live blog update.
While the crew returned to salvage vessels, the connection will make it easier to keep the ship under control, the coast guard said. Efforts to extinguish the fire have been complicated by crews having to avoid putting too much water on board and causing stability problems.
The ship is carrying a total of 3,783 vehicles, including 498 electric cars, according to its charterer Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd. There are several hundred BMW AG cars on board, plus roughly 300 Mercedes-Benz Group AG vehicles, representatives for the companies have said.
Spokespeople for Volkswagen AG haven’t ruled out that the automaker has cars on the carrier.
The Panama-flagged Fremantle Highway was en route to Port Said, Egypt, after a recent stop in the German port of Bremerhaven, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd., the Japanese firm that owns the vessel, said the final destination for the carrier was Singapore. The company also owned the Ever Given, the huge container ship that got stuck in the Suez Canal in March 2021.
–With assistance from Monica Raymunt and April Roach.
(Updated to add further details from the coast guard starting in the fourth paragraph.)
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