One of the things that is becoming increasingly apparent with the rise of electric cars is when they caught fireThose fires are extremely difficult to put out. This is true for fully equipped fire brigades on land, but imagine if one of those fires happened inside a ship at sea.
It’s not hard to imagine, because it happened to the cargo ship Felicity Ace last year. The good thing is, being a cargo ship, the number of crew on board is relatively small. What if it happened on a cruise ship? That is the question that the Norwegian cruise line Havila Kystruten asked consulting firm Proactima AS when the Norwegian government asked them to start transporting vehicles on some coastal cruise ships. Answer, According to a recent report by Maritime Executiveis “absolutely not.”
Proactima AS determined that despite the ships being the most modern and capable of handling petrochemical fires, the risk of a lithium or even hydrogen fire was too great to justify. Furthermore, if an incident has occurred, the odds of extinguishing it without endangering the lives of the passengers are not worth the risk. This is because the lithium flame, in addition to burning very hot, also produces a lot of toxic vapors.
Havila’s all-new ships use lithium storage batteries themselves, but the difference between this and the battery cells in consumer electric vehicles is huge. For example, maritime regulations state that a ship using these must have them in a separate fire protection with a fire suppression system designed specifically for the type of battery being used.
Will this decision by Havila Kystruten affect other ferries or transport vessels? For example, does the Washington State Ferry system place restrictions on tram transportation? What precautions will major carriers take to avoid a situation like the one we saw on the Felicity Ace from happening again?
We reached out to Havila Kystruten for comment but did not receive a timely response for publication.
