[American Thinker] Matson Inc., a major ocean cargo carrier in the trans-Pacific trade, announced this week that they have decided to stop carrying electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles on their ships, effective immediately.
Some in the industry were shocked and upset.
Matson, after all, has never had a ship sink as a result of an EV fire. What are they worried about?
But there have been three especially severe EV fires on cargo ships in just the past three years: the Felicity Ace in 2022, the Fremantle Highway in 2023, and most recently, the Morning Midas in 2025, each fire destroying thousands of vehicles each along with much or all of the vessels.
In the Fremantle Highway fire, one crewman died and sixteen more were injured, and the ship needed to be largely rebuilt and renamed.
In the Felicity Ace fire, all the crew members escaped without injury, but the ship sank, taking its cargo with it to the bottom of the ocean. A total loss.
In the most recent incident, the Morning Midas caught fire off the coast of Alaska , in the North Pacific; no injuries this time, but again the ship was a total loss.
In each case, many in the industry insist on denying the evidence in front of their eyes: despite eyewitness reports that each of these fires started in an electric car, some reporters and industry analysts, politically desperate to defend their precious EVs, insist that the cause of these fires is still unproven. The evidence, after all, is hundreds of meters deep and utterly out of reach.
Matson, however, has no doubt, and neither have an increasing number of others in the transportation industry. 
|
