A freight ship that caught fire off the Dutch coast and has been burning since, as fire extinguishers try to figure out ways to tackle the incident, has been carrying nearly 500 electric cars, far more than previously reported, the company that chartered the ship said.
Initial reports said that the ship was carrying 25 electric cars.
The Fremantle Highway vessel, which has been burning for a fourth day off the Dutch coast, was chartered by Japanese transportation company K Line.
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A spokesperson for the company said there were 3,783 vehicles on board, including 498 battery-electric vehicles. The spokesperson declined to comment on the kinds of car brands that were on the ship.
There is no information on whether the cargo ship was carrying cars by Japanese manufacturers.
Burning cargo ship threatens North Sea with major pollution
The Fremantle Highway cargo ship is still burning off the Dutch coast. Rescue workers are trying to prevent it from sinking, a potential environmental disaster. But the firefighting efforts have proven difficult.
A Dutch Coast Guard boat approaches the car carrier cargo ship Fremantle Highway. The ship caught fire early Wednesday morning just under 27 kilometers (16.8 miles) off the coast of the northern Dutch island of Ameland. But containment of the flames on the 200-meter-long ship is slow, and the coast guard expects the freighter to burn for several more days.
Image: JAN SPOELSTRA/ANP/AFP
Difficult work
Boats with water cannons are cooling the ship from both sides. The fire cannot be extinguished directly at the moment because rescue forces cannot reach it. A Coast Guard aircraft still needs to take pictures from the air and check whether the temperature has dropped. Only then can special forces board the ship.
Ready to fly
Rescue workers at Rotterdam Airport prepare for their mission on the Fremantle Highway. The cargo ship had loaded 3783 automobiles, Kisen Kaisha, a spokesman for Japanese shipping company Kawasaki, said Thursday. Among them, he said, were electric cars whose lithium batteries are complicating the firefighting operations. The Dutch coast guard had previously spoken of just under 3000 automobiles.
Danger to the Wadden Sea
Too much water from the firefighting operations could also cause the ship to capsize. The Coast Guard said on Thursday that the ship was stable for now. Should the Fremantle Highway sink, fuel, oil and, of course, the loaded cars would enter the water, which would threaten the Wadden Sea, the largest tidal flats system in the world, with large-scale pollution.
30-meter jump for crew members
An injured crew member of the Fremantle Highway is brought ashore in Lauwersoog. The 23 crew members had to leave the cargo ship head over heels, several of them jumping from the ship from a height of 30 meters. One crew member died and the rest were brought to safety by helicopter with minor injuries, according to Dutch media.
Environmental disaster feared
The Panama-registered ship had left the German port of Bremerhaven with full fuel tanks. 1,600 tons of heavy fuel oil and 200 tons of diesel could to enter the North Sea. So far, according to the authorities, no oil has spilled out of the burning cargo ship. Environmental protection organizations fear an environmental disaster if the Fremantle Highway sinks.
Safe on land?
A man looks with binoculars in the direction of the burning cargo ship from the island of Ameland. According to the Dutch government, the risk of an oil spill in the Wadden Sea islands is low. Escaping fuel would disperse northwards in the open sea, the responsible Dutch Minister for Infrastructure and Water Management Mark Harbers said on Thursday.
“Serious danger”
The German Central Command for Maritime Emergencies is supporting the operation. The emergency tugboat Nordic (pictured above) sprayed water onto the Fremantle Highway on Wednesday. On Thursday, the German government offered further help: “Germany will provide anything that can help,” said German Environment Minister Steffi Lemke. The unique Wadden Sea National Park is in serious danger, she said.
Electric car battery fires much harder to put out
The Dutch coast guard said Thursday the cause of the fire was unknown, while Dutch media reported that the fire may have been after an electric car battery ignited.
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Cars with lithium-ion batteries have fewer fires than diesel and gasoline cars, but the situation can be dangerous when the batteries catch fire.
The fires then are hotter because there’s a lot more fuel inside an electric car battery because the battery cells are densely packed. It also takes a lot more water to put the fire out.
But pouring too much water to douse the flames is also not a tenable solution because there are fears of the ship sinking and environmental havoc.
The 199-meter Fremantle is still drifting in the sea, about 17 kilometers from the Dutch island of Terschelling.
