Fire on the "Felicity Ace": Why so many transport ships catch fire

 "The fire on the freighter Felicity Ace reveals the vulnerability of transport ships. The fires have increased significantly in recent years. 

 

Thick clouds of smoke came from the freighter and rose into the Atlantic sky, fortunately no one was injured: On Wednesday afternoon, the "Felicity Ace", a huge transport ship flying the Panamanian flag, caught fire near the Azores in the Atlantic. There are around 4,000 cars from the VW Group on board, including around 1,100 cars from Porsche, as well as cars from Audi, Lamborghini and Bentley.

 

The cause: Lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles have apparently caught fire - which complicated the extinguishing of the fire: "The ship is burning from one end to the other," said the port captain of Horta in the Azores, Joao Mendes Cabecas of the Reuters news agency. "Everything caught fire from five meters above the waterline." 

 

A spokesman for VW confirmed to the FAZ that it was a ship belonging to the Japanese shipping company Mitsui OSK.

Specialists from the Dutch salvage company Smit tried to bring the fire under control. The entire crew of 22 is safe and has been taken to a hotel in the Portuguese archipelago by the Portuguese Navy and Air Force, the Navy said in a statement. The "Felicity Ace" was on its way to the port of Davisville in the US state of Rhode Island, and the ship is now to be towed. According to the captain, a port in the Bahamas or in Europe is suitable. The nearest port in the Azores is out of the question because the freighter is too big. 

 

The ship's fuel tanks are below the waterline and sealed by the crew.

 

Incorrect information as a risk factor

The incident off the Azores is not the only fire in recent years: in January 2019, charcoal falsely declared as coconut pellets caused a fire on the "Yantian Express". The ship transported 22 tons of biochar on the Atlantic from Canada to the USA. In such an incident, it is important to react quickly, as the spokesman for the shipping company Hapag-Llyod from Hamburg, who was affected at the time, told the F.A.Z. communicates. Headquarters and the Coast Guard are contacted, and more fire boats arrive. 

 

Whether the ship can be saved in the event of a fire depends on several factors: How is the wind? What goods and what weight are in the containers? How far is the ship from shore? And above all: how well prepared is the crew?

 

"The greatest danger is when the fire spreads from one container to other areas and it can therefore no longer be controlled," says Haupt. Automatic extinguishing systems are only installed in the ship's hull. Since the containers on deck are above and next to each other, an extinguishing systems' installation here is rather unsuitable. The fact that a ship capsizes is less due to the fire itself than to too much water to extinguish the fire. Oil primarily spills out in collisions, which are relatively rare. According to the spokesman, the contingency plans with the country authorities are also important.

 

As in the case of the "Yantian Express", the fires are often caused by incorrect information about the contents of the containers. “The right protection and control is crucial. Unfortunately, we can hardly recognize false declarations. We are very dependent on the customers," says the spokesman. In the event of an accident, the shipping company is fully insured and bears no risk as far as possible.

Fires are increasing

The incidents on the "Yantian Express" and the "Felicity Ace" confirm the trend of recent years: the number of fires on large ships is increasing. 2019 was a record year with 40 cargo-related fires on board, according to an Allianz shipping survey. At the same time, the number of shipping accidents fell by 4 percent in 2020. "The larger and heavier ships get, the greater the risk of fire," says Anastasios Leonburg, Senior Marine Risk Consultant at Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS). 

 

According to the report, container ship capacity alone has increased by 1,500 percent in the last 50 years and has more than doubled in the last 15 years. Southern China, Indochina, Indonesia and the Philippines are maritime accident hotspots.

 

In the corona pandemic, human error in particular has become more likely: “The ships were allowed to dock less often and the staff could therefore be replaced less often. As a result, the crew was often exhausted and overtired,” says insurance expert and Captain Leonburg.

He calls on the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to issue uniform regulations. In his opinion, there is currently a gap between shipping companies that invest enormous sums in safety and the people who want to save. 

 

From Leonburg's point of view, the increased transport of electric cars and the increasing weight of the freight require new, generally binding rules. The highly flammable lithium batteries in particular would pose an increased risk for the future.

 

Christian Denso from the Association of German Shipping Companies also sees the main source of danger in incorrectly declared goods. “Shipping companies often only know the contents of dangerous goods containers. With the vast majority of containers, they don't know," says Denso for the F.A.Z. Like Leonburg, he believes methods to declare goods more reliably are the most important step in reducing the risk of fires."