Probably best not to know what the hell goes on with cars on ships when your car is probably on the ship
Not surprisingly, with hundreds of these vessels constantly in use globally, accidents will happen.
In any ship, stability is crucial but with a cargo ship like a car carrier meticulous attention has to be paid to both loading and unloading and also the securing of the cargo to ensure the centre of gravity remain within clearly defined limits. These limits in conjunction with the ships centre of bouyancy and its metacentric height determine its stability. Consequently these vessels have complex water ballast systems to assist in trimming the vessel.
When things go wrong however, they tend to quickly go wrong.
Here is a link to my post from earlier this year on the
GOLDEN RAY accident from Sep 19.
My list (which is not comprehensive) is as follows:
Mar 19 GRANDE AMERICA
Jan 16 MODERN EXPRESS
Jan 15 HOEGH OSAKA
Dec 12 BALTIC ACE
Jul 06 COUGAR ACE
Dec 02 TRICOLOR
If you plonk those names into any search engine you should find an interesting read... or maybe you shouldn't.
I have also noted 4 major fires which have occurred since Jan 19.
In June the HOEGH XIAMEN loaded with 2000 used vehicles caught fire whilst alongside at Jacksonville. Despite the fire service being on scene very quickly and using
drones with IR cameras to detect hot spots, the ship continued to burn for days. If a fire cannot be extinguished when alongside with the benefit of a fully equpped fire service using fire boats and all the latest technology, what chance would it have at sea?
In June 2019, the DIAMOND HIGHWAY was abandoned in the South China Sea because of a fire onboard.
In May last year the GRANDE EUROPA caught fire whilst off the Spanish coast in the Mediterranean. It had no less than 2 separate fires in brand new vehicles within the space of 4 hours.
In January 2019 the SINCERITY ACE went up whilst crossing the Pacific Ocean with 3,500 Nissans onboard. 5 crewman died.
Most of these fires are apparently being attributed to car batteries.
This is a disgraceful record and it may be worth remembering next time the international media highlight a single Tesla catching alight somewhere in the world.
Whatever, transporting cars across the seas is not only expensive and polluting but clearly comes with some big risks too - I can see why Elon is not a fan.
