IUMI updates guidelines for safe carriage of electric vehicles

There are five key areas updated.

The International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) has updated the set of best practices and recommendations for the safe carriage of electric vehicles, which it issued in 2023.

Entitled “Risk mitigation for the safe ocean and short-sea carriage of electric vehicles,” the updated version covers five key areas. These are potential gas accumulation, total energy release and peak temperatures, challenges with PCTC ship design, “Fixed First” approach for PCTCs, and limitations of foam-based extinguishing systems.

IUMI Secretary General Lars Lange said the volume of cars being shipped by maritime transport globally is around 20 million units per annum.

“There appears to be an increasing frequency of fires onboard car carriers, although none to date have been found to be solely attributable to an electric vehicle – although it is possible that an EV was the culprit,” he noted.

“However, we are well aware that the characteristics of an EV fire are different to those emanating from a standard internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV), and it is important that carriers, operators and insurers understand the risks involved and the measures that might reduce that risk,” Lange said.