Burned-Out Car Carrier Sinks in Pacific Three Weeks After Fire Began
Zodiac Maritime, managers of the car carrier Morning Midas, reports that it received information from the salvage team that the fire-damaged vessel sank in international waters. The fire had begun three weeks ago on one of the decks carrying electrical vehicles and grew quickly in intensity, forcing the crew to abandon ship.
A salvage team from Resolve Marine took a week to reach the vessel because of its remote location approximately 360 nautical miles southwest of the Aleutians in Alaska. The vessel was reported to be still burning when teams reached it on June 9, but they believed the water integrity had been maintained. A towline was attacked on June 11, and by the time a second salvage vessel Garth Foss arrived on June 16, thermal scans and visual inspections showed no signs of an active fire onboard.
“Damage caused by the fire, compounded by heavy weather and subsequent water ingress, caused the Morning Midas to sink at around 16.35 local time zone (UTC -9) on 23 June, in waters approximately 5,000 meters deep and 360 nautical miles from land,” a spokesperson for Zodiac Maritime reported.
As a precaution, two salvage tugs containing pollution control equipment remain on site to monitor for any signs of pollution or debris. A specialized pollution response vessel is also en route to the location as an additional precaution.
Morning Midas on June 3 shortly after the fire began and showing how the fire spread over the next week (USCG Alaska)
The fire began on June 3, and Zodiac reported that the crew initiated the firefighting procedures and deployed the onboard fire suppression systems. However, with the intensity of the fire growing, the crew abandoned ship into one of the vessel’s lifeboats and was rescued by a containership COSCO Hellas, which had diverted to the area.
The vessel was under charter to China’s SAIC Anji Logistics. Bloomberg reported there were several brands of cars aboard, including models from Chery Automobile Co. and Great Wall Motor Co. USCG Alaska reported that there was a total of 3,048 vehicles aboard, including 70 that were fully electric and 681 hybrid electric vehicles.
Morning Midas was bound for Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico. The Coast Guard reported that there were approximately 350 metric tons of gas fuel and 1,530 metric tons of very low sulfur fuel oil onboard.
The loss of Morning Midas is the second large car carrier to sink recently with Felicity Ace lost in February 2022, south of the Azores in another incident that also involved electric vehicles. The following year, in July 2023, the Fremantle Highway caught fire off the coast of the Netherlands in another casualty involving electric vehicles. That vessel was a total loss but was salvaged and towed to a port.
The industry and insurers have warned about the dangers of electric vehicle fires and the potential for a runaway situation, which is very difficult to control. Weeks after the fire, during the salvage, electric vehicles removed from Fremantle Highway were still smoldering. The industry is working to develop enhanced fire precautions and techniques to deal with the dangers of transporting electric vehicles.