Australia is not ready for a major EV fire at one of its ports — and the nation’s top port boss says it’s only a matter of time before an incident occurs.
Ports Australia chief executive officer Mike Gallacher said emergency crews are not currently equipped to deal with a lithium-ion battery blaze on a ship or inside a packed container yard, despite the growing flood of electric vehicles and battery-powered goods arriving in the country.
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“You can’t throw a fire blanket over these things,” Gallacher said.
“The vehicles are packed into a car carrier within about 15 centimetres of one another.
It’s going to be very hard for anyone to move between those vehicles, to be able to get to a fire.”
If one EV goes into thermal runaway – an unstoppable chain reaction where an increase in temperature changes a system’s conditions in a way that causes an even greater temperature increase – and ignites while on a packed container ship, it can start a chain reaction with other lithium-battery cars or machinery.
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UNIQUE CHALLENGES OF EV BATTERY FIRES
Battery fires come with their own unique challenges. They burn hotter and can also emit toxic, potentially explosive gases.
EVs have already been implicated as a possible cause of two major ship fires.
In June 2023, carrier ship the Fremantle Highway suffered major fire damage while transporting 3,500 cars, including 500 EVs.
Then in 2025, the Morning Midas sank in international waters while transporting 3000 cars, 800 of which were EVs.
While these incidents happened well-off shore, there are concerns about a similar fire occurring while a ship is in a port, or near a densely-populated area.
At present, there is no agreed upon response for a lithium-ion battery that occurs on a ship while in an Australian port.
“The approach that’s currently taken is to remove the vessel, try to get it back out into deep water where the vessel will just burn,” Gallacher says.
“Then you have the question, which of the towage operators is going to agree to tow the vessel outside?”
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said it is examining national preparedness as maritime risks change, including “emerging hazards, such as a shipboard fire involving lithium batteries”.
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“The National Plan for Maritime Environmental Emergencies is Australia’s national framework for responding to maritime emergencies and sets out how governments and industry work together to prepare for, respond to and recover from incidents in Australian waters,” AMSA said in a statement.
“A major review is underway to ensure response arrangements remain fit for purpose.”
Gallacher says the global shipping industry is playing catch up with technology.
“There is no international approach,” Gallacher said.
“Whilst the take-up on the technology has been very, very fast. Our ability to deal with the risks continues to evolve.”
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The threat is not confined to ships. Gallacher warned ports could also be hit by lithium-ion battery fires inside container stacks, where access is tight and removing surrounding cargo may be impossible.
“It’s easier for our first responders to be able to deal with an EV fire if it is in isolation,” he said.
“But when it’s stacked in the middle of a stack of containers, it’s not a simple case of just unpacking the others.”
With no official international guidance, the Australian Ports authority is now leading the charge for a best-practice guide for lithium-ion battery fires. They’ve consulted a number of experts in this field and are working on responses.
“It is a global challenge, but it’s one that I’m pleased to say Australia’s leading the discussion and it’s now taking on legs of its own.”