Economy After fire on freighter
Bremen’s SPD parliamentary group calls for the classification of electric cars as dangerous goods
Status: 04.08.2023 | Reading time: 2 minutes
“The time bomb keeps ticking”
A week ago, the car freighter “Fremantle Highway” caught fire off the Dutch coast. While a safe haven for the damaged ship is still being sought, an anchor line is said to have come loose, reports WELT reporter Ilka Groenewold.
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In a letter to Transport Minister Volker Wissing, the SPD parliamentary group in Bremen demands that safety precautions for electric cars urgently need to be increased. Electric cars would have to be declared as dangerous goods – just like the lithium-ion batteries they contain.
After the fire broke out on the car freighter “Fremantle Highway”, the Bremen SPD parliamentary group sees the Federal Ministry of Transport as having an obligation to advocate greater safety precautions for shipping at sea. The extinguishing systems must be modernized, demanded SPD parliamentary group leader Mustafa Güngör in a letter to Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP). In addition, electric cars should be declared as dangerous goods.
“Before outside help arrives, the ship’s crews are responsible for fighting the fire. They are helplessly exposed to the fires of electric cars,” the letter said. In view of the size of the ships and their loading with electric cars, fire protection is no longer sufficient.
So-called lithium-ion batteries are already classified as dangerous goods, but the rule does not apply until now when they are installed in electric cars. That was incomprehensible, criticized the parliamentary group leader. Electric cars should also be explicitly reported and registered.
The badly damaged car freighter “Fremantle Highway” lies in the port of Eemshaven
Source: dpa/Lars Penning
After a fire broke out a week ago, the freighter “Fremantle Highway” with around 3,800 cars on board was off the Dutch coast. The coast guard suspects that the battery of a charged electric car was the cause of the fire. Their batteries are difficult to extinguish. One crew member did not survive the fire.
The Nabu also called for stricter fire protection requirements
Only on Thursday was it possible to tow the freighter to the Dutch port of Eemshaven at the mouth of the Ems. The risk of an environmental catastrophe for the North Sea and the Wadden Sea has thus been averted. Specialists were on board throughout the towing process. The freighter was also accompanied by a special ship for collecting oil.
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In response to the accident on the “Fremantle Highway” and other incidents involving freighters in the North Sea, Green politician Meyer had called for shipping routes for car transporters and other dangerous goods transports to be moved further away from the coast. The environmental association Nabu also called for a ban on the transport of dangerous goods near the Wadden Sea and stricter fire protection requirements, especially for the transport of battery vehicles. With the current rules, “the next tricky situation” for the Wadden Sea is “only a matter of time”.
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