GREECE

The container ship ‘Luna Maersk’ (4,000 teu) will sail again on Wednesday, after the vessel was startled by a fire in one of the containers it had on board near the Greek coast on Monday evening. The ship of the Danish container shipping company Maersk was on its way from Piraeus to Thessaloniki on Monday when a fire broke out in one of the containers. The crew managed to contain the fire themselves before it could spread to surrounding containers, but then turned back to Piraeus to let the authorities take stock.

Greek business newspaper Naftemporiki has reported that a used electric car was in the fire-hit shipping container, but this has not yet been confirmed by Greek authorities. It is also not yet known where the container came on board. The ‘Luna Maersk’ operates on a Maersk service between the Mediterranean and America (New York, Panama Canal, Mexico).

Magnifying glass

The transportation of electric cars has been under a magnifying glass lately. Extinguishing fires caused by e-cars is seen as a hellish job, and the transport of battery cars is therefore under discussion, although no recent major ship fire has been proven to have been caused by an e-car. However, several major ship fires in the past have been caused by short circuits in second-hand cars that were transported on board.

In any case, the ‘Luna Maersk’ was given permission to get back to work and left for Thessaloniki on Tuesday night.