The Morning Midas Cargo Ship, On Fire For Weeks, Has Finally Sunk

A ship full of cars finally sank near the coast of Alaska. The Morning Midas, a Roll-on-Roll-off (RoRo) car carrying ship that caught fire in early June has gone down, officials have announced. The vessel sank in international waters, around 450 miles southwest of Adak, Alaska.

The burned-out ship capsized and then sunk at 5:35 pm local time on Monday, while it was under tow to the nearest suitable port. The US Coast Guard says that there was no visible pollution from the wreck as of June 24, and that it will continue to monitor the situation. There are salvage vessels on site, but it’s not likely that they’ll be able to retrieve anything from this wreck.

Vessel Burned For Weeks Before Sinking

MV Morning Midas was carrying approximately 3,000 new vehicles that were en route to a port in Mexico when it caught fire on June 3. The vessel had departed Yantai, China, on May 26, and was approximately 300 miles south of Adak, Alaska, near the tip of the Aleutian Islands chain.

Damage from the fire, along with bad weather and water seepage from the abandoned ship led to its capsizing and sinking. The Coast Guard said in a statement that it had sunk in waters around 16,400 feet deep, a depth that makes salvage near-impossible and certainly not feasible. Sorry, Tavarish.

The 22 crew members were evacuated to a lifeboat shortly after the vessel caught fire. They were rescued quickly by another vessel and there were no injuries.

Ship Had 70 EVs On Board, Cause Of Fire Not Identified

While initial reports said that the vessel had hundreds of EVs on board, the real number was closer to 70. A large plume of smoke was originally reported to be coming from the stern of the ship, and images show heavy damage to the rear. It’s not clear what automakers had vehicles on board the vessel, or what models were included in the cargo.

The 600-foot-long Morning Midas flew a Liberian flag. It was launched in 2006, and built at Xiamen Shipbuilding in Xiamen, China. The ship’s owner was Zodiac Maritime, a UK company.

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The cause of this fire hasn’t been identified, but EVs have been blamed for cargo ship fires before. The most notable was the Felicity Ace, which sunk off the coast of the Azores in 2022. It carried 3,828 vehicles, including Porsche, Bentley, and Lamborghini models. An EV battery fire was initially blamed, but the cause was never identified. The Fremantle Highway caught fire in 2023 but was towed to a Dutch port. Again, initial reports blamed an EV, but when the vessel was boarded after the fire was extinguished, it was found that none of the EVs had suffered damage and more than 1,000 vehicles were recovered.

Another car carrying ship, the Grande Costa d’Avorio, caught fire at port in Newark in 2023. As that fire was extinguished more quickly, it was discovered that the cause was the crew using one loaded vehicle as a tow vehicle instead of proper equipment.

Source: United States Coast Guard