The Felicity Ace continues is still burning off the coast of Portugal’s Azores islands with thousands of cars on board. The drifting ship remains stable, and no pollution has been reported.
The Panama-flagged ship caught fire last week while on its way from Emden, Germany to Rhode Island, US. It is now drifting, with MOL informing that all of the crewmembers were evacuated safely.
While it is not clear if the lithium-ion batteries first caused the fire, they have later been ignited and the fire needs specialist equipment to tackle the fire, according to a local port official speaking to Reuters, noting that “the battery packs are keeping the fire alive”.
What is more, according to the law firm Watson Farley & Williams, despite the fact that it is not clear if electric vehicles are more likely than ICE vehicles to catch fire, the consequences are potentially more disastrous and more difficult to handle.
The firm also added that if crews are not aware that fighting an EV fire requires a different technique to that employed in fighting a conventional fire onboard, it is easy to see how an incident could lead to a total loss.
The evidence indicates that current suppression and drenching systems will not be sufficient for this new risk. New systems will need to be devised and incorporated into ship design
MOL has also arranged additional salvage and firefighting teams to support the vessel. More specifically, one large tug with firefighting equipment arrived from Gibraltar, while a second tug, also from Gibraltar, is expected to support the operation.
Finally, a salvage craft with firefighting equipment will from Rotterdam on February 23 or 24.
This is the only article I’ve come across that actually points out that EVs, while they may or may not have been the cause of the fire, were certainly responsibly for spreading it uncontrollably.