Insurers have registered an increasing number of fires on board large cargo ships in recent years. In 2019 there were around 40 cargo-related fires. Car transporters in particular pose a major risk. “These ships are nothing more than a huge multi-storey car park on the high seas,” says Captain Anastasios Leonburg, a consultant at the insurer Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty.
Thousands of cars are standing close together. If one catches fire, the probability is very high that the one next to it also catches fire. In Leonburg’s eyes, the risk increases if the affected cars also include e-mobiles. “Even if something like that catches fire on land, the fire brigade has enormous problems putting it out,” he says. However, it is not known whether there were attempts to extinguish the fire at all on board the Felicity Ace, in which the type of propulsion could have played a role.
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