Major Shipping Line Matson Closes the
Hatch on Transport of Electrical Vehicles
American Thinker,
by
John F. Di Leo
Original Article
Posted By: Hazymac,
7/28/2025 9:35:02 AM
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.
Post Reply
Reminder: “WE ARE A SALON AND NOT A SALOON”
Your thoughts, comments, and ideas are always welcome here. But we ask you to please be mindful and respectful. Threatening or crude language doesn't persuade anybody and makes the conversation less enjoyable for fellow L.Dotters.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Californian 7/28/2025 9:55:31 AM (No. 1983552)
All Chinese made EV. Makes sense.
29 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
mc squared 7/28/2025 9:57:50 AM (No. 1983554)
FTA: "reporters and industry analysts, politically desperate to defend their precious EVs, insist that the cause of these fires is still unproven..."
Like the efficacy of covid shots.
42 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
DVC 7/28/2025 10:11:22 AM (No. 1983560)
Not worth risking the whole ship and cargo, and crew when an EV "decides" to just catch fire for no known reason and burn down everything near it, unquenchable, no known way to put out these fires.
31 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
JHHolliday 7/28/2025 10:20:19 AM (No. 1983570)
EVs are simply not practical yet. Maybe 20-30 years from now as technology solves the inherent problems. They are also not convenient. I can fill up my Camry in ten minutes and be on my way. There are also gas stations everywhere but charging stations are few and far between.. One of the guys in my poker club has a Chevy Volt and had to be towed a few months ago when he ran out of charge. That thing is not much bigger than a golf cart and I won't ride in it. A collision with anything substantial and the ambulance will have to use ziplock bags to pick up your parts. Maybe one day but that's well in the future. For now, most of the sales go to people who want to virtue signal or fool themselves into thinking that they are saving the planet.
39 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Hazymac 7/28/2025 10:46:53 AM (No. 1983579)
The Morning Midas rests in total darkness, in 16,000 feet (three miles) of water somewhere off Alaska, the ship and its cargo total writeoffs. At least the crew was rescued. One of the sunken auto hauling ships had dozens of Porsches and Lamborghinis on board. Dang it. Those were some nice cars. Now deep water crustaceans attach themselves to the wreckage.
FTA: "More and more insurance companies, parking garages, and even neighborhoods are waking up to this fire risk and raising the possibility of resisting insuring EVs, or even allowing EVs to be kept in their properties, because of the way that these batteries have been known to cause uncontrollable fires." That's happening around here, where our carports are four feet above astronomical high tide. E-cars and hybrids will burn uncontrollably when their batteries are exposed to seawater. My next door neighbor's got one, a brand I've never heard of. The association might force him to get an ICE vehicle if he wants to keep it parked under our units. Too much fire risk, especially to me! Some new high rises with ten floors built on top of four levels of open air parking will not allow electric vehicles in their parking areas. A bad enough Li-ion battery fire, which is hot enough to melt concrete and reinforcing steel, could conceivably cause the entire 14 story structure to sag and tip over sideways. Impractical E-cars must eventually going away, even the Teslas. Few advantages, too much downside.
27 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
Californian 7/28/2025 10:51:34 AM (No. 1983580)
4, solid state batteries are a real thing. Mercedes has a demo model on the road right now with estimated 600 mile range and gasoline speed charging times. Toyota says they'll be putting solid state battery cars on the road by end of 2027 with 600 mile range and 1000 mile range by 2030.
Range, safety, and recharge times are a solved problem. We're now at the stage of developing viable mass production techniques, the same as anything else. They're not magically difficult or exotic.
They don't catch fire, they don't explode, they weigh less than current battery tech.
8 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Venturer 7/28/2025 11:37:03 AM (No. 1983593)
# 6 That sounds great .As soon as they prove themselves it will be a great advancement, but I will let someone else use their money to prove it.
26 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Californian 7/28/2025 11:46:56 AM (No. 1983597)
7, I didn't say you or anyone else should buy an EV. I've said many times they're good for some people and bad for others. It's a personal choice.
As far as solid state batteries go, they're a known technology. The only thing new is powering cars with them at scale so the only potential concern is financial viability based on production costs. The batteries themselves are well understood.
For me, I look forward to getting 1000 miles on a charge which takes 10 minutes to max the battery pack.
If we can get most of our transportation system off petroleum then our enemies in the Middle East and elsewhere that drive their economies on oil will collapse when the world cuts back dramatically on oil purchases.
2 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
crashnburn 7/28/2025 12:00:45 PM (No. 1983603)
#7. Where do you think the energy required to charge the batteries comes from? It doesn’t magically appear out of thin air. It comes from power plants. Plants fueled mostly by coal , natural gas, and petroleum. Solar and wind are boondoggles. And, so far, battery energy density is nowhere close to petroleum so big rigs will still be burning diesel for years to come.
Conflict in and with the Middle East significantly predates Internal Combustion Engines. Reducing dependence on foreign oil won’t solve that problem. In President Trump’s first term, the US was a net energy exporter and the Middle East conflicts continued. I want some of whatever you are smoking if you think solid state batteries will solve the Middle East problems.
18 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
earlybird 7/28/2025 12:01:12 PM (No. 1983604)
A legitimate concern.
7 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
earlybird 7/28/2025 12:12:02 PM (No. 1983610)
I'm with those who prefer a sure thing. If others want to pay their good money to test this stuff, that is their fhoice. The garaging horrors that Hazy describes are very real.
13 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
DVC 7/28/2025 1:32:13 PM (No. 1983654)
And remember.....those EVs continued to burn as they sank to the bottom of the ocean. NOTHING will put out those fires, including being entirely underwater.
#4, I love your optimism, but that's what they've been saying for 100+ years....."pretty soon they'll have all the bugs worked out....". :-)
13 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Starboard_side 7/28/2025 2:13:36 PM (No. 1983665)
I've seen video of an EV fire in an ocean container which took 10,000 gallons of water to extinguish.
The vessel that sank off Alaska was a car carrier vessel where the vehicles are driving onto the vessel like a very large parking garage.
5 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
Maggie2u 7/28/2025 3:11:13 PM (No. 1983694)
And something else. Why are taxpayers on the hook for building 'charging stations?' We don't pay for new gas stations right? Let some enterprising entrepreneur build them.
20 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
RuckusTom 7/28/2025 4:22:52 PM (No. 1983717)
Wouldn't cars made to save humanity destroying ships they're being transported on so they can get about 'saving humanity' fall into the realm of irony?
9 people like this.
I feel the same way about my garage.
4 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
bpl40 7/29/2025 7:31:17 AM (No. 1983894)
Like Mother Nature you can't fool the laws of physics. Longer range simply means more energy pumped in and concentrated in a smaller volume. You are literally building a bomb. Lithium is a dead end. Solid Hydrogen isn't there yet.
4 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
Zigrid 7/29/2025 10:00:10 AM (No. 1983995)
Sorry for Elon Musk...his electric cars are under fire...pardon the pun...again.....perhaps he needs to reconsider his idea...maybe he can invent a more fire safe car.....I have driven my gas guzzling American built cars for years...and I would never give them up,,,in fact I just gave my latest guzzler to my grandson at university...he's thrilled.... I'm considering a motorcycle ...just kidding...an old lady doesn't belong on a motorcycle...OR DOES SHE....
7 people like this.
Smart move. The batteries in EVs can be VERY dangerous. Where on a ship does one flee from an unquenchable fire?
3 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
Omen55 7/29/2025 7:02:26 PM (No. 1984223)
As others stop transporting EVs the price will go up.
0 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
Strike3 7/29/2025 7:30:50 PM (No. 1984240)
I like your way of thinking, #18. I have seen many ladies riding Honda Goldwing and Harley trikes and they are just as easy to operate as cars because you don't need any leg strength to hold them upright at stoplights. My wife has been after me for years to stop riding my motorcycle but I tell her that as long as I can still lift my leg over the saddle I will continue to ride.
0 people like this.
Below, you will find ...
Most Recent Articles posted by "Hazymac"
and
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)