On December 29, a seminar on Safe Shipping (online), with the theme of "fire risk and prevention measures of new energy vehicle transport", was held by China Shipowners Association and Xinde Marine News and co-organized by the DMUMAT. The seminar was chaired by Chen Shuwei, general manager of Xinde Marine News.
At the beginning of the meeting, Mr Qin Huanfu, Deputy Secretary-General of China Shipowners Association, delivered an opening speech. In recent years, PCTC have become another type of ship that has exploded in growth after container ships. According to relevant statistics, in 2021, the investment for the construction of PCTC has exceeded the sum of the past six years. At one point, the daily rental of ships in operation hit a 13-year high. New energy vehicles account for 3 percent of the global total. New energy vehicles and battery safety transport has gradually become the focus of the shipping industry.
In recent years, fire accidents of electric vehicles occur frequently, and many accidents have caused casualties and property losses. For new energy vehicles, especially electric vehicles, the safe transportation of batteries is very important. New energy vehicles in the process of sea transport, once the fire is likely to cause serious harm to the ship and personnel. Based on the above background, China Shipowners Association and Xinde Marine News co-hosted this safe shipping seminar. We will jointly focus on new energy vehicle transportation risk analysis and current transportation status. Fire risk prevention of new energy vehicle carrier, Fire Risk Prevention in Container Shipping Industry, Interpretation of relevant laws and regulations of new energy vehicle shipping, Ship fire prevention and insurance claims etc.
Yin Shaozhou, Section chief and senior engineer of Liaoning Maritime Safety Administration Crew Examination Center, shared the topic of "New energy vehicle transport risk analysis and risk prevention suggestions".
The new energy vehicle battery has the risk of spontaneous combustion, and the combustion speed is fast, the temperature is high, the duration is long, the process will produce high temperature toxic smoke, the vehicle will produce a chain reaction, and the extinguisher is difficult, because the combustion conditions do not need oxygen, so the carbon dioxide and dry powder extinguisher can't be put out, can only use a lot of water, which will cause the ship roll problem, causing danger.
At present, the main transportation modes of new energy vehicles are ro-ro ship and container ship. Due to the characteristics of ro-ro ship, its stability will be reduced. In addition, the current requirements of ballast water discharge greatly increase the hidden danger of ship's stability, and it has strong sealing and limited lashing. For container ships, it is easy to be affected by bad weather and lashing, and the epicenter of fire is difficult to determine, so the CO2 extinguishing system is difficult to play a role. The classification of new energy vehicles is different between ro-ro ships and container ships. The former classifies them as general goods, while the latter classifies them as dangerous goods.
Rao Hui, senior engineer of China Classification Society, shared the speech on "Fire Risk Prevention of New energy vehicle Carriers".
In the past two years, the new energy vehicle market has shown explosive growth and frequent accidents. Compared with 2020, the number of fire accidents has increased exponentially in 2021. Most of them are related to the battery system. The battery is easy to cause thermal runaway due to its characteristics, and because it is located position, it is not easy to be found when heating or catching fire, and it is difficult to extinguish the fire, and toxic smoke will be produced in the process.
Prevention is mainly considered from three aspects: ship design, ship operation and ship management. Mainly prevent the occurrence of fire and explosion, as well as early fire detection, consider the characteristics of the battery ventilation design, cabin structure design. It is recommended to equip detection system, surveillance video and thermal imaging technology to detect fire hazards. The vehicle compartment is equipped with a fixed water-based extinguishing system, and different new energy vehicles are loaded in its respective areas. Fire emergency management procedures, crew targeted fire training and drills should be carry out.
Capt Qu Xintian, HSSE Sustainability Manager of Maersk (China) Shipping Co., Ltd. shared the speech "Fire Risk Prevention in Container Shipping Industry". We were introduced to the specific measures of Maersk on fire prevention and control, different stowage in risk areas, such as no loading near accommodation, special management of special cargo etc.
Yang Linjia, director of DMUMAT, shared with us the "Interpretation of relevant laws and regulations of new energy vehicle shipping". Lithium battery belongs to dangerous goods Category IX, packaging II, pure electric vehicle UN number is UN3171, belongs to unrestricted goods, no packaging requirements, and introduced to us the interpretation of international rules for the transport of dangerous goods at sea.
Li Liangjun, Editor and Safety Shipping Consultant of Xinde Marine News, shared "Ship fire Accident Statistics 2022". In 2021, 88 fires were reported at sea, accounting for 37% of accidents in engine room, and 110 in 2022. The most frequent fires occurred in May and winter, including 23 in engine room, 46 in cargo hold, 22 in accommodation, 9 on bridge, and 10 with unknown causes. The reasons may be improper operation, insufficient supervision of fire operation, short circuit of electronic equipment, dry bulk cargo fire in most cases, container and ro-ro fire less, should be increased more crew fire training, smoking control. It also introduced that the Xinde Marine News Safety Group was established in August 2020, and has successively launched Xinde Marine Safety weekly, monthly, annual and safety guide series. At present, 526 ships have subscribed to Xinde's products.
Captain Wang Yong, Senior Loss Prevention Manager of Loss Prevention Department of China P&I Club, shared the speech "Prevention of Ship Fire and insurance Claims". P&I insurance is introduced. In recent three years, bulk cargo and general cargo fires are very frequent. Due to the unknown cause of fire, it is difficult to put out in time and cause loss, the ship insurer will intervene and determine the loss according to the fire and damage situation.
Finally, the Q&A session of the seminar was hosted by Chen Shuwei, General manager of Xinde Marine News. We also invited CAI Wanqun, Marine Manager of the Paper Supply Chain Division of COSCO Shipping Special Transportation and Zhang Weiguo, maintenance manager of COSCO Shipping Special Transportation to co-host. Mr Zhang Weiguo introduced to us the fire prevention manual of COSCO Shipping Special Transportation for vessel, set up firefighting equipment according to the situation of vessel, strengthen crew training and daily fire prevention inspection. The drill varies from area to area, and the ship is equipped with special probes for early detection of battery abnormalities.
The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Xinde Marine News.
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