We haven't had one of these stories in a while. And thank God, because when they happen, they can be a doozy.
It sure is looking as if this one has the potential to reach 'doozy' pretty quickly.
On the morning of May 26, a 600-foot-long car carrier named the Morning Midas departed Yantai, China, laden with vehicles for delivery at a port in Mexico.
Yesterday, the Coast Guard confirmed that it was responding to reports of a fire onboard the vessel, which was now about 300 miles off the Alaskan coast.
The Midas Morning was carrying a cargo of some 3000 vehicles, 800 of which were electric. The initial report of the fire's origin placed the smoke as arising from the deck where the EVs had been loaded.
The U.S. Coast Guard is responding to a fire on board the 600-foot car carrier Morning Midas carrying hundreds of electric vehicles approximately 300 miles off the coast of Alaska.
The vessel departed from Yantai, China on May 26 with destination Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico where it was expected on June 15. According to shipping database Equasis the 2006 Morning Midas is owned by Hawthorn Navigation Inc. out of London with management by Zodiac Maritime Limited.
Zodiac Maritime has confirmed the vessel is loaded with around 3,000 vehicles, 800 of which are electric vehicles. Smoke was initially seen emanating from a deck carrying electric vehicles, according to the statement.
#BREAKING (1/2) USCG responding to fire onboard 600ft cargo ship Morning Midas with 22 people aboard 300 mi SW of Adak
— USCGAlaska (@USCGAlaska) June 4, 2025
- No reported injuries
- Ship’s crew actively fighting fire
- 3 vessels on scene to assist
- USCG aircrews en route to Adak
- USCG Cutter en route to the area
Fire suppression systems had no effect on the blaze and the twenty-two-man crew eventually gave up attempting to fight the fire. Several commercial vessels in the area had changed course to offer assistance after being alerted to the emergency.
...“Watchstanders immediately issued an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast requesting assistance from vessels in the vicinity of Morning Midas. Three ‘good Samaritan’ vessels responded to the incident,” said the US Coast Guard.
Watchstanders later diverted a US Coast Guard cutter to the area, directed the launch of a C-130J Super Hercules aircraft from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak, and positioned an MH-60T Jayhawk helicopter air crew in Adak.
All 22 crew members aboard Morning Midas evacuated the ship and were subsequently rescued by the crew of Cosco Hellas, one of the good Samaritan vessels on scene, with no reported injuries, noted the US Coast Guard.
The crew safely evacuated to another ship in one of their lifeboats and abandoned the blazing Midas Morning to her fate.
A CGAS Kodiak Super Hercules conducts an overflight of a fire aboard MV Morning Midas approximately 300 miles south of Adak June 3, 2025. All 22 crew members were rescued by MV Cosco Hellas with no reported injuries. (U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of Roland Hobson) pic.twitter.com/qupUq1WOZF
— SeaWaves Magazine (@seawaves_mag) June 5, 2025
This is a great animated map of the incident tracking.
Costamare-owned containership Cosco Hellas has rescued all crew members from the stricken vehicle carrier Morning Midas after a fire broke out on an electric vehicle deck on June 3. Read the full article here (free to view): https://t.co/apuLsveJwD pic.twitter.com/xeHHKwwqQZ
— Lloyd's List (@LloydsList) June 5, 2025
So what happens now?
Well, the company that owns the Midas Morning has already coordinated with the Coast Guard and arranged for a salvage tug and crew to babysit what will quickly become a smoldering hulk of epic toxic proportions as it burns itself out, which is the only thing it can do.
Besides all the vile things associated with EVs themselves...
The Morning Midas cargo ship, carrying electric cars from China to Mexico, is on fire and abandoned
— Darren of Plymouth (@wolsned) June 5, 2025
A potential highly toxic floating lithium bomb.
Burning EV batteries release dangerous chemicals including hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen chloride, and hydrogen cyanide, as well as… pic.twitter.com/qR3LuF1VIM
...A potential highly toxic floating lithium bomb.
Burning EV batteries release dangerous chemicals including hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen chloride, and hydrogen cyanide, as well as carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, and methane.
These leach into the environment.
This is the green movement, so many worship, in action. This vessel will continue to burn until it sinks.
...there are the standard fuels and chemicals that provide the power for an ocean carrier onboard (and copious amounts of them) to be considered as well.
...According to the US Coast Guard, Morning Midas is estimated to have some 350 tonnes of marine gas oil and 1,530 tonnes of very low sulphur fuel oil on board.
Zodiac Maritime confirmed today, June 5, that is has appointed salvage company Resolve Marine to respond to the fire aboard Morning Midas.
A tug carrying a team of salvage specialists and equipment has been mobilised and is expected to arrive in the area of the stricken vessel on Monday (June 9).
“A tug will assess the vessel’s condition and provide necessary support. An additional firefighting tug, capable of ocean towage, is also being arranged to provide further support,” said Zodiac Maritime.
The tug and salvage team will stand off from the Midas Morning to avoid any dangerous chemicals or possible lithium battery explosions and monitor the fire's progress. If the ocean towing tug can safely attach a line, it'll do so in order to keep the vessel from drifting into shipping lanes as best it can.
That's as much as they can do and only as long as the vessel remains afloat.
The Coast Guard has released updated vehicle figures for the ship.
- Reported vehicles onboard: 3,048 total, 70 fully electric, 681 partial hybrid electric.
So far, the Chinese manufacturers of the EVs onboard haven't had anything to say when queried.
...The Morning Midas was shipping around 3,000 cars from a range of manufacturers including Chery Automobile Co. and Great Wall Motor Co. to Mexico. It’s unclear at this stage which brand’s electric vehicle caught fire, the people said, who asked not to be identified discussing preliminary findings.
...Great Wall Motor had about 140 cars on the ship, although none of them were battery EVs and were not located at the deck where the fire started, one of the people said.
A representative from Chery declined to comment. Great Wall Motor didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Calls and an email to Anji Logistics weren’t answered.
Chery has been increasingly trying to position itself as the rival to Tesla. I'm pretty sure this incident is going to be unhelpful to their product image.
The guys over at G Captain have compiled a pretty handy reference list of recent car carrier fires which includes the God awful one at Port Newark that cost the lives of two Newark firefighters and the Felicity Ace, which went down with buttloads of brand new Porsches, Lamborghinis, and Bentleys.
Until somebody somewhere comes up with a way to fight a lithium-ion battery fire effectively, be it in an apartment, in a storage facility, or, terrifying thought, in the middle of the Pacific, all you can do is let them burn.
Seriously - how stupid are we to put up with this crap?
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