Ship loaded with lithium batteries catches fire off the coast of Alaska
A fire was reported on a 125-meter-long cargo ship carrying lithium-ion batteries from Vietnam. The U.S. Coast Guard is assisting the ship that was diverted to Dutch Harbor, Alaska, on Friday, but the vessel did not enter the port for safety.
At approximately 0440 local time on Thursday, the 17th Coast Guard District Command Center in Juneau received a report from the “Genius Star XI” of a fire on board. The distress call was made about 225 miles (362 kilometers) southwest of Dutch Harbor.
The Coast Guard dispatched a Lockheed HC-130 from Kodiak Air Station and Coast Guard Cutter Alex Haley to assist the vessel. The Coast Guard said a “safety zone” will be created around the vessel “carrying lithium-ion batteries.”
Genius Star XI set on fire, seen from airplane
Bloomberg data shows that the Genius Star XI departed Vietnam earlier this month with a stopover in San Diego. As of Saturday, the ship has been off Dutch Harbor.
Wisdom Marine Group of Taipei, Taiwan, is the owner of the cargo vessel. A company spokesperson told AP News that the 19 crew members were not injured.
The company warned of a “potential explosion risk” and said the hold, a space on the ship intended for storing and transporting cargo, was “kept sealed.”
In a press release, Capt. Chris Culpepper, commander of Coast Guard Sector Anchorage, wrote: “This will be an ongoing team effort as we work to safely extinguish the fire, provide necessary medical care to the crew, and mitigate the dangers associated with a fire on board”.
There have been a series of lithium fires on commercial ships this year. The latest was in July, when a huge roll-on, roll-off ship suffered a fire caused by what was initially reported to be an electric vehicle .
Thanks to our Telegram channel you can stay updated on the publication of new Economic Scenarios articles.
The article Ship full of lithium batteries catches fire off the coast of Alaska comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/nave-carica-di-batterie-al-litio-si-incendia-al-laro-dellalaska/ on Sun, 31 Dec 2023 06:30:45 +0000.