A cargo ship carrying 2,857 cars burst into flames! Suspected to be caused by electric cars

At the time of the incident, the Fremantle Highway was sailing from Bremerhaven, Germany, to Port Said, Egypt, with 2,857 vehicles on board, 25 of which were electric vehicles. The Dutch Coast Guard says the cause of the fire is still under investigation, but preliminary reports indicate that the fire may have been caused by an electric car on board, which quickly spread throughout the ship. Fires caused by electric cars are very difficult to put out and often reignite despite best efforts to extinguish them. The Coast Guard said in a statement that 23 crew members tried unsuccessfully to extinguish the blaze, eventually abandoning the ship and being rescued by Guard boats and helicopters. Dutch firefighters on the scene have so far been unable to control the fire.

The coast guard told Dutch news agency ANP that the fire could last for days. Water has been poured on both sides of the ship to extinguish the fire and cool it down, but rescue boats also had to avoid spraying too much water on the ship to prevent it from sinking. "Several vessels are on the scene to monitor the situation and to see how the fire can be brought under control. However, this is entirely dependent on the weather and the damage to the vessel. Therefore, studies are underway to ensure that the worst case scenario is avoided." When asked if there was a possibility that the ship could sink, the spokesman said, "We are considering this scenario and are also preparing for all possible scenarios including the sinking of the ship."

"The Fremantle Highway is operated by Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (k-line), but is owned by a subsidiary of Japan's largest shipbuilder, Imabari Shipbuilding. According to Automotive News, there are currently about 350 Mercedes-Benz vehicles on board the ship. It is unclear what other brands of vehicles are on board. But recent fires have also raised questions about the risks of transporting electric cars. On March 1 last year, a cargo ship carrying more than 4,000 luxury cars sank as a result of a previous fire in the waters off the Azores Islands in Portugal, and is currently located at a depth of 3,500 meters under the Atlantic Ocean, and the luxury cars that sank with the ship include thousands of Porsches and Bentleys.

On July 5 this year, a container ro-ro ship belonging to Grimaldi Group, a well-known Italian ship-owning company, burst into flames in the U.S. port of Newark, New Jersey, when loading operations were underway. The ship was carrying more than 1,200 vehicles and 157 containers destined for West Africa. However, according to the ship's operator, there were no electric cars on board.