{"text":[[{"start":8.72,"text":"An exemption for small batteries from dangerous goods rules has increased the threat of fires that can take days to extinguish on board container ships, the shipping industry has warned."}],[{"start":19.96,"text":"Container shipping lines are pushing the International Maritime Organization, the regulator, to change the current rules under which their customers do not need to declare containers with products such as laptops or power banks as hazardous goods because the batteries fall below a 100-watt-hour threshold."}],[{"start":36.96,"text":"Shipping executives say that this means containers filled with hundreds of consumer electronics can be placed on ships without captains knowing that they have potential fire hazards on board."}],[{"start":47.64,"text":"“The operational consequences are significant. Dangerous goods are subject to strict stowage requirements — including whether a container is placed on deck or underdeck, how it is segregated and how accessible it is to crew in an emergency,” said Marcus Örtenblad, dangerous goods policy manager at the Danish shipping line Maersk."}],[{"start":67.72,"text":"Joe Kramek, chief executive of the World Shipping Council, said that the so-called SP188 exemption that governs small batteries was intended to simplify the transport of small batteries, but some exempted shipments can contain more stored energy than four electric vehicle batteries."}],[{"start":84.88,"text":"“Batteries shipped under the exemption have caused serious container fires, putting people, ports, ships and the marine environment at risk,” he said."}],[{"start":93.24,"text":"The issue of battery fires has become increasingly prominent in the industry as usage has grown in line with the electrification of the global energy system."}],[{"start":100.92,"text":"The International Energy Agency has said that global lithium-ion battery deployment in 2025 was six times as high as in 2020. It projects that demand for batteries is expected to double by 2030."}],[{"start":114.26,"text":"According to the insurer Allianz, there were more than 200 reported fire incidents on ships in 2025, the second highest on record after 2024. Many were caused by the combustion of lithium-ion batteries that were unmarked or not reported correctly as hazardous goods, Allianz said."}],[{"start":131.4,"text":"There are few solutions for putting out lithium-ion batteries at present thanks to thermal runaway — where damage to a battery can create a feedback loop that causes it to become a self-heating fire."}],[{"start":141.44,"text":"Colin Gillespie, global head of loss prevention at the marine insurer NorthStandard, said that “operational blind spots caused by undeclared or exempted battery shipments” were an increasing concern as the number of battery shipments grew, adding that “regulation has not kept pace with the speed and scale of this developing risk”."}],[{"start":160.28,"text":"In a paper submitted to the IMO ahead of a meeting of its committee for container cargoes in mid-September, shipping industry bodies alongside Germany, the Netherlands, Singapore, Thailand and the Marshall Islands pointed to the container ship X Press Godavari in 2020, which suffered a fire on board in 2020, as a “typical example” of small lithium-ion batteries combusting on board."}],[{"start":183.3,"text":"The fire, which was set off in a container carrying more than 500 packs of lithium-ion batteries as well as almost 600 rechargeable torch batteries, took up to 42 hours to put out."}],[{"start":195.72,"text":"A safety investigation report from the incident said that even if a single battery had caught fire “there was nothing which could have prevented the fire from spreading inside the container and consuming the rest of the cargo”."}],[{"start":207.04,"text":"The issue is also becoming more of a challenge as temperatures rise worldwide. The X Press Godavari fire was probably caused by the batteries being exposed to more than 30C temperatures for a prolonged period, the report said."}],[{"start":226.48,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1787632122_1258.mp3"}