The fire was first reported at 3pm on Wednesday 16 April on board the MV Delphine, which was docked at the CLdN terminal in Zeebrugge, Belgium
According to Lloyd's Maritime Institute, the MV Delphine is the world’s largest short-sea ro-ro (roll on/roll off) vessel and was carrying a cargo of 260 electric (EV) and ICE cars when the blaze broke out on the third deck.
The ship’s captain gave the evacuation order and the other 26 crew members left the vessel at Brittanniadok, with the captain remaining aboard to monitor the situation together with the fire department and emergency services. With assistance from four firefighting tugboats, the situation was brought under control after the compartment affected by the fire was sealed off and the CO2 gaseous suppression system was activated.
Due to the potentially severe consequences of fires within enclosed ro-ro decks, particularly where EVs are present, new industry guidance recommends that evacuation, ventilation shutdown, and CO2 flooding of the area are actions taken as early as possible to combat potential fire spread and threat to life safety.
As reported by Maritime Executive, Zeebrugge’s port vice-chairman and mayor of Bruges, Dirk de Fauw said: "There was a lot of smoke from the electric cars, which also made the extinguishing work more difficult". With temperatures inside the affected deck reaching up to 100oC, firefighting work continued throughout the night with de Fauw saying “we will measure the temperature in the room again. If it is low enough and there are no more traces of the fire, then we can slowly start ventilating the room.”
Due to the presence of EVs the fire department confirmed that “the vehicles are no longer burning, but as soon as fresh air comes onto the deck, we will have a resurgence.
"We have to avoid that. For that reason, we will blow nitrogen into the deck that we will have brought over from Antwerp. Although it is still not certain that the situation will be under control."
With 60 EVs and 40 ICE cars located on the third deck, the emergency services have estimated that 60–70 vehicles have burned out. With the full extent of the damage having not yet been confirmed, the fire service did report that there were no injuries or pollution as a result of the fire, with any potential contaminants stopped from spreading by the use of containment barriers, and normal port operations were able to continue with minimal disruption.
The fire was finally extinguished on the morning of Thursday 17 April, but de Fauw told reporters that “it is not a matter of hours, but rather of days before all the cars are out of the hold and the trailers are back on shore.”
Lloyd’s Maritime Institute noted that, “this incident reignites critical questions about the risks of transporting EVs at sea.”