Ship carrying more than 3,000 vehicles catches fire near Alaska coast; has 750 EVs onboard
The cause of the fire is unknown, but it is suspected to be linked to the electric vehicles onboard the ship.
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Check Offers A fire on a cargo ship carrying electric vehicles off the coast of Alaska has caught fire. The salvage teams are expected to intervene on Monday. The ship is carrying more than 3,000 vehicles and of which around 750 are electric or hybrid.
AFP has reported that the Alaska Coast Guard received a distress call reporting a fire onboard the Morning Midas, a British-managed cargo ship with 22 crew members and carrying thousands of vehicles. The crew reportedly evacuated on a lifeboat before being rescued by another private vessel.
An overflight of the cargo ship, which is currently located around 547 kilometres southwest of Adak, has confirmed that the ship is still burning, the Alaska Coast Guard said in a statement. “Currently, there are no visual indications that the ship is taking on water or listing, and the extent of the damage is unknown,” the statement said.
The New York Times has quoted Dustin Eno, a spokesman for the ship’s management company, Zodiac Maritime, as saying that there were no firefighting vessels nearby to help extinguish the blaze. The Los Angeles Times has reported that a salvage team is expected to arrive on Monday.
Video footage released by the coastguard shows smoke rising from the 600-foot (183-meter) vessel, which is reportedly carrying more than 3,000 vehicles, and around 750 of those are electric or hybrid.
This is not the first time a ship carrying electric vehicles has caught fire. Over the last few years, several incidents have been reported where fire erupted in ships that were carrying electric vehicles and in many cases, first in the electric vehicles’ lithium-ion batteries were responsible behind those first incidents. This time, it is not clear what caused the fire on the ship this time, but it is suspected that the electric vehicles onboard the ship could have some connection with the incident. Electric vehicles across the world are mainly powered by lithium-ion batteries, which are generally safe but can overheat and ignite if damaged, which could result in a devastating fire incident.
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First Published Date: 09 Jun 2025, 07:38 AM is