Morning Midas fire renews alarm over EV ship safety

The sinking of car carrier Morning Midas on June 23 in international waters of the North Pacific, nearly three weeks after a fire broke out on board, has ignited once again debates about the maritime industry’s readiness to handle the growing volume of electric vehicle (EV) cargo. Though car carriers are now regularly commissioned to transport EVs to markets across the world, the standard safety systems are yet to evolve in parallel.
The Morning Midas incident began on June 3 when smoke was detected emanating from a deck carrying EVs during the vessel’s voyage from Yantai, China to Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico. Despite crew efforts to deploy emergency firefighting protocols and onboard suppression systems, the intensity of the fire forced all 22 crew members to abandon ship. They were safely evacuated via lifeboat and rescued by a merchant vessel with no injuries reported.
The 600-ft Morning Midas, built in 2006 and flying the Liberian flag, was carrying 3,159 vehicles, including 65 full EVs and 681 partial hybrid EVs. The incident follows several other notable car carrier fires in recent years, including the Fremantle Highway (2023), Felicity Ace (2022), and Sincerity Ace (2018). Of these vessels, only the Felicity Ace ultimately sank. According to a statement from Zodiac Maritime, the vessel’s manager, the ship ultimately succumbed to compounded damage from the initial fire, severe weather, and subsequent water seepage
The Morning Midas incident is hauntingly similar to the March 2022 loss of the Felicity Ace, which sank off the Azores with 4,000 luxury vehicles after a fire, and the July 2023 fire aboard the Fremantle Highway in the North Sea. That incident, which involved nearly 500 EVs, prompted the Dutch Safety Board to call for urgent improvements to emergency response protocols for ships carrying electric vehicles.
The core issue lies with the lithium-ion batteries central to EVs. While generally safe, if damaged or defective, they can enter a state of ‘thermal runaway’ — a chemical chain reaction that produces intense heat and flammable, toxic gases. These fires are notoriously difficult to extinguish with traditional shipboard equipment and can burn uncontrollably for days or even weeks. 24M Technologies has reported that thermal incidents are expected to increase as global EV numbers rise and battery energy density continues to grow.
The company cited forecasts projecting the global EV fleet to reach 250mn by 2030, up from around 40mn today. According to 24M, some markets have already experienced a 33% increase in thermal incidents involving EVs. It stated that while these events remain rarer than fires involving internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, they often pose greater risk, particularly when vehicles are stationary or charging. The company warned that even if thermal incidents occur in just one of every 10,000 EVs, the annual total could reach 25,000 worldwide by the end of the decade.
Internal short circuits and dendrite growth (which can occur during repeated charging cycles or due to fast charging at low temperatures) were identified as key causes of thermal runaway, which can happen in milliseconds and may spread to adjacent cells and the vehicle itself. Once a thermal event begins, it cannot be stopped without intervention. The safety challenges stem from battery designs that have changed little in 30 years. 24M CEO Naoki Ota said a new approach is needed that addresses safety at the cell design level. “The solution is to incorporate transformative in-cell fire prevention technology,” he said.
As the global auto industry accelerates its transition to EVs, the loss of the Morning Midas serves as a stark reminder of the unresolved safety challenges involved in transporting them across the world’s oceans.