The recent fire aboard the car carrier vessel Felicity Ace in the Atlantic (pictured above) focused all the stakeholders in the auto shipping industry on the issue of what to do about electric vehicles (EVs) that spontaneously combust while being transported at sea. The cars on the ship burned with such intensity that parts of the hull above the waterline melted.
All 4000 Volkswagen Group cars on board were destroyed. The ship is a write-off and there is considerable downstream damage in terms of lost sales for both VW Group and its dealers. In addition to VWs, the cargo included 189 Bentleys and 1100 Porsches as well as Audis.
While it has yet to be established what started the fire, what kept it burning were an estimated 1000 EVs with lithium-ion batteries, based on the fact that 25% of VW production is now dedicated to EVs.
“The intervention [to put out the blaze] has to be done very slowly,” Captain João Mendes Cabeças said in a report by the ABC. Lithium-ion batteries in the electric vehicles on board were “keeping the fire alive”, Captain Cabeças said at the time, adding that specialist equipment to extinguish it was on the way.
The term lithium battery refers to a family of batteries with different chemistries. There are two main types: lithium metal and lithium-ion.
Lithium metal (including lithium alloy) batteries contain metallic lithium and are primarily non-rechargeable. They have lithium metal or lithium compounds as an anode.
On the other hand, lithium-ion batteries are rechargeable, and lithium is only present in the electrolyte in the ionic form. Included in the lithium-ion category are lithium polymer batteries. Lithium batteries are sometimes abbreviated as Li-ion batteries.
It is the increasing prevalence of Li-ion batteries being carried on containerships – amid rising mis-declarations – that is a major concern for marine insurers, experts say.
When damaged, lithium batteries can enter an unstoppable chain reaction called thermal runaway, heating up to 400C and causing a fire that requires specialist equipment to extinguish.
Battery fires are complex enough that land-based fire crews are having to introduce new, and sometimes experimental, measures to fight them. Unlike normal fires, they can be starved of oxygen and continue to burn, and trying to fight battery fires with water is often unsuccessful or even makes things worse, because lithium reacts with water to form lithium hydroxide and flammable hydrogen gas. The best way to extinguish them is by cooling down the individual cells.
According to a recent Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) report, mis-declared cargo has been implicated in a number of near-miss incidents recently, with false declarations including labelling them as ‘computer parts.’ In one case, the US Coast Guard reported a fire produced temperatures “hot enough to create a hole through the metal container’s structure”.
While the shipping industry is now beginning to act, the air cargo sector has had a spotlight on the danger for a long time. Shipping lithium batteries by air is possible, but it is crucial to note these are Dangerous Goods and the applicable regulations must be complied with to ensure the safety of all personnel, aircraft, and passengers. All of the required steps and guidelines are in IATA’s Lithium Battery Shipping Regulations manual.
For professional advice about international shipping, whether by air or sea – including Dangerous Goods – contact us here at Colless Young. As licensed Customs Brokers and International Freight Forwarders, we handle all your transport needs, both import and export. We are based in Brisbane and offer a complete range of logistics services, including quarantine treatments, warehousing and trucking, through all Australian ports and airports.
