The Last Driver License Holder — 2023-08-13
Maritime and Ports
After extinguishing the serious fire on the car carrier Fremantle, the Dutch Coast Guard entered the damaged ship for the first time and found that all 500 electric cars in the lower decks were undamaged and not the cause of the fire.
On the other hand, the top four of the twelve decks collapsed and were severely damaged. The head of the salvage company Boskalis, Peter Berdowski, said.
“Part of the decks is totally fused with the cars.”
The freighter remains for the time being times in Eemshaven, where it will be examined and then presumably scrapped, this has yet to be decided by the Japanese owner. First, however, the remaining cars must be salvaged, which will be difficult given the collapsed upper decks.
Since the fire started on July 26, 2023, the ship burned for a week before the fire could be extinguished. Electric cars were first suspected as the cause of the fire, immediately drawing criticism for the danger of EV transportation. But as it now turns out, the causes lay elsewhere. In addition to the 500 electric cars, the Fremantle had loaded 3,300 cars with combustion engines, of which 2,700 fell victim to the fire.
The numbers speak for themselves when comparing the fire frequency of combustion engines and electric cars. Fires occur up to 80 times more frequently in combustion engines than in electric cars. As Elon Musk once asked ironically,
“If someone wants to commit arson, what do they take to start a fire? A battery, or a gas can?”