A serious shipping crisis erupted about 300 miles from the coast of Alaska when the cargo ship Morning Midas, which carried about 3,000 automobiles, ignited. The vehicles included almost 800 electric vehicles powered by lithium-ion batteries, which are extremely flammable. Because of the intense hazard, the U.S. Coast Guard let the ship burn for more than 24 hours rather than trying to put out the fire.
The vessel, which was traveling from China to Mexico, erupted into flames unexpectedly, and the crew had to abandon the ship immediately after the initial appearance of smoke on Tuesday afternoon. An emergency alert was sent within 15 minutes of smoke detection. The crew of all 22 members escaped in lifeboats and were later picked up by a passing commercial ship.
The Coast Guard noted the danger presented by lithium-ion battery fires, saying that incendiary overheated batteries explode and release toxic fumes. ‘Too Dangerous to Fight the Fire’, said officials, hence requiring them to stand off and watch until the fire naturally decreased.
According to Reuters, the blaze began on a deck carrying electric vehicles, although the brands of the vehicles were not revealed. Electric vehicle fires are notoriously hard to contain because of the intense heat and reignition potential which can continue for several days. The Coast Guard dispatched a cutter as well as aircrew to the scene, while three other vessels are docked nearby in standby.
The owner of the ship, Zodiac Maritime, which is in London, said that no firefighting support ships were close by. An expert response crew is said to be on its way, and U.S. agencies intend to conduct an investigation.
The Morning Midas set sail from Yantai, China, on May 26 and was bound for Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico, calling at locations close to key Chinese EV centers like Shanghai and Nansha. A report by the International Energy Agency stated that well over 60 percent of the electric vehicles marketed in Mexico in 2023–24 were Chinese.
Another such accident occurred in 2022 when a vessel carrying 4,000 luxury cars, such as Porsches and Bentleys, sank off the coast of the Portuguese Azores after being on fire for nearly two weeks.
Allianz Commercial’s 2025 shipping safety review highlighted that fires on ships more specifically, car carriers, roll-on/roll-off vessels, and containerships are very perilous. Indeed, 2024 recorded the most of these types of incidents in a decade. Allianz cautioned that the size of today’s ships and the complications of fires on board make containing such catastrophes very challenging.
