On June 23, local time, the Liberian ro-ro ship Morning Midas , carrying 3,048 Chinese cars,sank 5,000 meters into the sea near the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.The ship set sail from Yantai port on May 26, destined for the Mexican port of Lázaro Cárdenas, with a total estimated cargo value of more than $400 million.
History of the Shipwreck
Disaster Timeline:
June 3, midnight: the deck of the loaded electric car burst into smoke, the crew activated the carbon dioxide fire extinguishing system after the lithium battery re-ignited and failed .
June 5: The fire got out of control and 22 crew members were rescued by a Chinese merchant ship after abandoning the ship.
June 23: The ship sank after structural damage to the hull and bad weather caused seawater to back up.
National Transportation Safety Board reveals: 350 tons of gaseous fuel + 1,530 tons of low-sulfur fuel oil remain in the waters of the wreck, pollution monitoring continues.
China’s new energy vehicle exports soar
The accident comes at a time when China’s new energy vehicle exports are exploding, and the Americas are gradually becoming one of China’s major export destinations:
According to the analysis of China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), 212,000 new energy vehicles were exported in May 2025, up 6.1% sequentially and 1.2 times year-on-year.And from January to May 2025, China exported 855,000 new-energy vehicles, up 64.6% year-on-year.
In addition, according to the China Automobile Dealers Association, the top 5 countries in terms of total exports of new energy vehicles from China in May 2025 were Brazil with 35,478 units, Belgium with 30,405 units, the Philippines with 21,517 units, the UK with 21,456 units, and Mexico with 14,587 units.
Systemic Risks of New Energy Vehicle Marine Transportation
Morning Glory Midas tragedy is not an isolated case, in the past five years there have been a number of major car ship fires around the world, these cases are summarized it is not difficult to see that the new energy car shipping has three major risks:
1. No effective means of extinguishing fires
Conventional CO2 systems cannot penetrate battery packs, and water injection to extinguish fires may lead to short-circuit explosions.
International firefighting experts have confirmed that it takes 10,000 gallons of water to extinguish a single electric car fire, and that the amount of water needed to extinguish a full ship fire is enough to sink the ship .
2. No early warning mechanism
Lithium batteries in the early stages of thermal runaway only release a small amount of gas, which is difficult to be recognized by the traditional smoke detector in the cabin of the ro-ro ship.
3. Risk-free segregation design
The current deck structure of the ship to form a “chimney effect”, accelerating the vertical spread of fire; although classified as dangerous goods, but 80% of lithium batteries marine transportation is not the implementation of mandatory compartmentalization.
In the future, the maritime transportation of new energy vehicles should be upgradedin the direction offiremonitoring and early warningfor ro-ro ships.Aiming at the limitations of the current ro-ro ships relying on personnel patrol, fire detection system and video monitoring system, it is necessary to focus on strengthening the ability of the following aspects:
Early detection: Deployment of highly sensitive hydrogen/temperature composite sensors to capture early signs of battery thermal runaway in real time;
Early Disposal: Establishment of a graded response mechanism to detect anomalies and automatically start localized water mist cooling + high voltage electric cut-off;
Anti-spreading: Configure fireproof compartment system to realize the physical isolation of single-vehicle fire.
The sinking of 3,048 Chinese cars at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean sounded an alarm at a cost of $400 million: only by casting safety as the keel of a ship can China’s new energy vehicles travel steadily and far on their journey into the deep blue.
