Also twelve days after the outbreak of the devastating fire on the Car freighter Morning Midas with around 3000 cars on board has only arrived a smaller tractor with the still burning shipwreck in the North Pacific. The crew of the Gretchen Dunlap tractor has no choice but to watch the inferno off the coast of Alaska from a safe distance. Two other tugs that the ship owner Zodiac Maritime Systems had sent on the way will only be expected at the scene of the accident in the coming days.
With a length of 32 meters and a width of 12 meters, the Gretchen Dunlap is also a tiny compared to the Morning Midas: In specialist forums, the question is discussed why owners Zodiac of all people sent a small and weakly motorized tractor on the way that cannot do anything at all.
The chances that the burned -out Morning Midas can still be dragged into a port decreased every day. A fire broke out on the ship in early June, the 22 -man crew had left the freighter by a lifeboat and had been absorbed by a container ship near, the Cosco Hellas. There were around 3000 vehicles on board the fussing, smoking wrecks, including round 800 electric cars.
Glowing metal scrap on the decks
Since the remnants of the cargo can slip at any time when the sea is stronger, the burned -out ship threatens to get and decrease. On the parking decks of a car freighter, the vehicles are usually placed close together and fixed on the tires with tires: there should now be nothing left of that, there is obviously only glowing metal scrap on the decks.
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Smoking wreck: the fire destroyed the on -board walls
Photo: Alexandria Obrien/ U.S. Coast Guard
The unmanned shipwreck drives at a speed of about two miles per hour in the northeast direction, as the Seatrade Maritime News industry sheet reports. Only in the coming days will two more, larger tugs will arrive at the scene of the accident – but then it will probably be too late, according to experts. The chances of being able to tow the shipwreck into a port are classified as low.
Fire fighting with carbon dioxide
But why did the crew leave the Morning Midas so early when the fire started spreading out of the rear? Fire on a parking deck can be combated by flooding the deck with carbon dioxide (CO2) – at least in theory.
“You have to imagine the Morning Midas like a huge parking garage with twelve parking levels at sea,” explains the shipping expert Sal Mercliano on his YouTube channel. “The period to react to a fire on board is extremely low”.
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Criticism of transport conditions becomes louder
The cars on the huge decks are parked on the bumper: the decks are hardly accessible and the conditions that a fire spreads quickly under high heat and smoke development. The team and the lifeboat were on the top level of the ship: rising smoke and heat are a fatal danger to the crew. In addition, the lifeboat must be lowered from a height of around 60 meters: This means that the team also has little time to save their own life – let alone fight the fire.
“It is impossible to flood all boost decks with CO2,” says Mercliano. If the fire is not localized and contained very early, be it too late with a view to the densely parked load.
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For years, experts have been calling for transport and safety precautions for transport ships of this size. Not only every centimeter is exploited on the ladedecks-the mixture of conventional vehicles and electric vehicles with lithium-ion batteries has also made fire fighting. How the fire on board the Morning Midas was created and whether electric vehicles have played a role is still unclear.
Environmental disaster threatens
The risk of an environmental disaster in the waters in front of Alaska grows every day. In addition to the 3000 cars, the 183 -meter -long and built Morning Midas also had around 300 tons of heavy oil on board.
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A US Coast Guard Aircraft has now scanned the freighter several times to document the extent of the damage. The ship had left the Chinese Hafan Yanai at the end of May and was on his way to Mexico with his load.
The weather is now a crucial factor: in the event of stronger wind and higher sea, the chances of success of a rescue operation continue to decrease. Then it would be left to the North Pacific to cool down the falling shipwreck.
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In 2023 a freighter burned in the North Sea
It was only at the beginning of June that a Dutch committee for transport security had called for better emergency care for ships in the North Sea. The occasion was a fire on a freighter in 2023, which – including almost 500 electric cars – from Germany transported to Singapore. At that time a person died, several were injured. The fire raged for a week before the ship could be dragged to a port in the north of the Netherlands.