Car carrier fire
A major marine loss in which fire spreads across the open decks of a ship loaded with thousands of vehicles, worsened by the difficulty of extinguishing lithium-ion batteries.
A car carrier is designed like a floating parking garage: long open decks, without transverse bulkheads, onto which vehicles are driven to their slots. This design, efficient for loading, favors the spread of fire and hampers firefighting, since the small crew cannot reach each vehicle. The lithium-ion batteries of electric vehicles add a risk of thermal runaway that sustains the fire, gives off toxic gases and reignites after apparent extinction. For insurers, the loss combines the ship's hull loss, the loss of the vehicles under cargo cover, often of high unit value, salvage and wreck removal costs, and sometimes a general average declaration. The market is questioning battery state-of-charge declarations, early detection and on-board firefighting means, which are becoming underwriting factors.
The Felicity Ace caught fire off the Azores on February 16, 2022 with nearly 4,000 vehicles on board, including Porsches, Audis and Bentleys, then sank on March 1, 2022 while under tow, resulting in a total loss of the ship and its cargo.
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