Morning Midas Car-Carrier Fire: What It Means for Safely Shipping Cars & EVs
A Dramatic Wake-Up Call At Sea Tragedies during overseas car shipping are unfortunate events causing heavy damages to the moving companies as well as auto manufacturers and owners. One such event took place in the pre-dawn hours of 3 June 2025 when the Panamanian-flagged car carrier Morning Midas radioed a MAYDAY after thick smoke erupted around a row of electric vehicles on Deck 8. The 19-year-old vessel—bound from Incheon to Lázaro Cárdenas with 3,048 brand-new cars, 70 of them fully electric and 861 hybrids —triggered its CO₂ system, but when the cylinders emptied the flames reignited with frightening speed. Captain Li Yan, faced with rising heat and toxic fumes, ordered an abandon-ship at 09:40 local time. All 22 crew members scrambled into a lifeboat and were rescued unharmed by the passing container ship Cosco Hellas . A U.S. Coast Guard C-130 over-flight later captured sheets of flame ripping through the starboard weather deck while black smoke trailed a mile downwind. Adrift...