The future is electric, we are constantly told, in between warnings about the need to stock up on batteries and tinned food in case of a cyber attack on the infrastructure we have come to depend upon. Quite where this electricity is going to come from is a somewhat moot point, as most of it will be soaked up by the data centres that are being furiously constructed to facilitate the uncertain and increasingly scary benefits of AI.
But leaving aside these more cerebral political issues, should we all be more concerned about the safety issues implicit in the multiplicity of electrical storage devices – i.e., batteries that are to be found in every conceivable device, deemed necessary for modern living?
There are some stark warnings being issued from the World Shipping Council on the worrying number of fires being reported on containerships around the world. They have registered the statistics released recently from the giant insurer Allianz, which said that there is one of these fires, or varying seriousness, on average every 17 days.
It makes you stop in your tracks for a minute, even when you consider the number of ships and containers afloat today.
Should it surprise anyone? Not all of these will have lithium-ion batteries to blame, as there are plenty of other cargoes that have been cited in the past for their propensity to burst into flames.
But the WSC provides some worrying examples of the sheer number of wrongly declared contents of shipped containers. Inspections have revealed that one in ten containers have been found with deficiencies, in the whole gamut of faults, from the dodgy declarations, to the actual safety of the stowage. The IMO, the organisation urges, badly needs to stiffen the regulations surrounding container cargoes that have the potential to cause huge damage to people and property.
It is pointed out, that in a single container, stuffed with 4,200 gleaming new laptops, all beautifully packaged and ready for their delighted customers on the other side of the oceanic passage, there is sufficient installed power in their batteries to run between three and four electric vehicles. These are not currently required to be declared as dangerous goods.
And just consider the batteries, big and small, that are installed in every conceivable device that is carried in their secure steel boxes around the world. When you consider the precautions demanded by aviation to prevent cabin or hold fires from devices, it seems that in shipping, we take a great deal on trust.
If you are of a certain age, and recall the level of cargo care that was lavished upon the contents of the holds of a breakbulk liner, it has often seemed that the contents of a container have to put up with a great deal by contrast.
On a long ocean passage (even longer in these slow-steaming, planet-saving days), the boxes swelter in the fierce tropic sun in their huge stacks on decks. They may wait for days on ships at anchor off a congested port, and cook on the quay awaiting collection. And if they are stuffed with cargoes like charcoal or that lethal chemical poured into the world’s swimming pools, occasional ignition cannot be that much of a surprise.
The growth in the number of lithium-ion batteries of every size and purpose may be just a function of technology and trade, but the hazards ought perhaps to be better understood. It is not just the container trades having to put up with these problems; witness the number of fires that are being encountered in waste disposal facilities ashore, on scrap berths in port and ships carrying scrap cargoes, which have been attributed to batteries mixed in with the potentially flammable cargo.
And we have become alert to fires on vehicle carriers that are trying to put in place viable precautions around the increase in electric vehicles. One might ask (not for the first time) whether it is necessary, or prudent, to carry on oceanic voyages decks full of old and even damaged EVs. It would seem to be asking for trouble.
The future is clearly going to be more electricity in our lives, and you might suggest that this revolution is still in transition, but surely these risks ought to be better recognised. Hoping for the best, that you do not become one more statistic, may not be enough.
