The Dutch Coast Guard has been leading crew rescue efforts after a car carrier caught fire off the northern coast of The Netherlands around midnight yesterday. As 23 seafarers were evacuated, latest reports indicate one crewmember was killed and several others injured and taken to hospitals in the Netherlands.
The distressed vessel is the Fremantle Highway (18,549 dwt), operating under charter to Japan’s K Line. The vessel had loaded 2,857 vehicles in Bremerhaven, Germany.
Twenty-five of the cars were electric vehicles. The Dutch news agency ANP cited a coast guard official as suggesting one of the EVs may have caught fire.
The Dutch Coast Guard has pointed out that the presence of electric cars makes the fire more difficult to fight – especially in an enclosed space like a ship.
The incident appeared similar in nature to a maritime disaster last year when a car carrier sank after catching fire in the Atlantic transporting roughly 4,000 Volkswagen AG vehicles to the United States.
(Dutch Coast Guard photo)
