INCIDENT RESPONSE GUIDANCE FOR
E-VEHICLE ON A SHIP

A white paper that provides guidance on incident response to a fire involving an e-vehicle on board of a vessel. This demands a different approach to fires that involving a conventional vehicle with an internal combustion engine. 

The FIRESAFE studies commissioned by EMSA have been the basis of the IMO work on reviewing and updating the fire safety standards of ro-ro passenger ships. The IMO Maritime Safety Committee issued interim guidelines for controlling fires in ro-ro spaces in 2019. This states that there should be appropriate training and drills and relevant crew members should be trained on firefighting strategies and risks associated with alternatively powered vehicles such as battery or gas driven vehicles.

We take this seriously and have included the safe handling of incidents with alternative fuels in the course material for the STCW Basic Training and Advanced Firefighting Training. As the refresher training has a 5 year interval, we deem this too long before you might receive an update in this subject. Therefore, we have written the white paper with information about dealing with incidents with vehicles equipped with a high voltage Battery Power Pack.