The rising tide of cargo fire incidents: impact and industry concerns

Cargo fires aboard shipping vessels can have devastating consequences and represent a serious risk to the safety of the crew, the vessel, the cargo, and the environment. This was evidenced in 2024, when a 6,589 TEU container ship docked at Ningbo–Zhoushan Port in China suffered a large explosion and fire involving hazardous materials, and again in January 2025, when the Hong Kong-flagged ASL Bauhinia caught fire in the Red Sea, forcing the crew to abandon ship. Both events highlight the growing urgency of this issue. ¹

While large incidents remain rare relative to the thousands of vessels in transit each year, their frequency and impact are rising. The Allianz Safety & Shipping Review 2025 recorded around 250 fire and explosion incidents in 2024, a 20 % year-on-year increase and the highest total for at least a decade. ² Insurers confirm that fire and explosion remain the most expensive cause of marine insurance claims, a trend that is causing mounting concern among stakeholders across the industry.

Container ships today carry 1,500% more containers than they did in the late 1960s.³ It’s believed this huge expansion in the size of modern cargo ships has made it more challenging for ship managers, the Master and ship crew to mitigate and manage onboard fires.

As fires on large vessels typically start with combustible cargo, carrying larger container volumes automatically increases the fire risk, but also the danger of holding mis-declared goods; that could be flammable. ⁴ This can be dangerous, because if crew are unaware a container holds hazardous material, they may incorrectly store it, not allowing for heat dissipation or other preventative measures.

The growing transport of electric vehicles and other lithium-ion battery-powered equipment presents an additional hazard. Thermal runaway in a single cell can spread rapidly, making fires difficult to extinguish. The North Sea car-carrier blaze in 2023, which killed one crew member, was widely attributed to a battery fire from an electric vehicle cargo.

The scale and compact design of modern vessels can also delay fire detection and access to the seat of the blaze. Once ignited, fires can spread unchecked through multiple container bays, often beyond the reach of shipboard firefighting systems. In such cases, the only recourse may be to abandon ship.

The financial impact is enormous: salvage and loss operations can reach US $1 billion for a 200-metre vessel designed to carry around 4,200 vehicles, particularly when specialised recovery and port infrastructure are required.

Fires are not the only cause of cargo loss. According to the World Shipping Council (WSC), 576 containers were lost at sea in 2024, a sharp rise from 221 in 2023 but still below the long-term annual average of 1,274. ⁵ These losses stem from causes such as improper packing, incorrect stowage, theft, and severe weather.

Each incident carries environmental consequences. Chemical leaks, oil, and other pollutants can devastate marine ecosystems and shut down nearby fisheries. In 2021, a vessel carrying 1,486 containers — including nitric acid and other chemicals — caught fire off Sri Lanka, underscoring how cargo losses can extend far beyond financial damage. ⁶

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) and aviation authorities impose stringent regulations governing the transportation of hazardous materials. These rules mandate proper labelling, packaging, and handling procedures to mitigate the risk of fire incidents. However, due to diverse global standards, inconsistent enforcement, and evolving challenges posed by emerging cargo types, compliance with these regulations is a constant challenge.

Additionally, operational practices and industry standards significantly influence cargo fire risk management. But due to the complexity and dynamic nature of the supply chain, with its intricate network of stakeholders, fostering standardisation and maintaining consistency across different regions and organisations can be challenging.

The rerouting of global traffic away from the Red Sea has also increased risk exposure. In 2024, transits around the Cape of Good Hope rose by 191 %, exposing vessels to harsher weather and extended voyage times that heighten operational stress and potential ignition sources. 7

The industry is keen to respond to the issue of fire and cargo loss and is doing so with a range of initiatives and emerging technologies that hope to reverse the increasing incidence trend. Major liner operators now use AI-powered cargo screening to detect mis-declared dangerous goods before containers are loaded. Advanced fire-detection, suppression, and thermal-imaging systems are being installed on newbuilds, while retrofits focus on faster smoke detection and compartment isolation.

One such cross industry initiative, Safety Tech Accelerator, launched by Lloyd’s Register (LR) and Lloyd’s Register Foundation in 2018, is looking to progress technology advances in three key areas: onboard cargo control; fire detection and stopping the spread through effective onboard response; and managing the challenges created by the increasing scale of vessels.

Similarly, the MARIN Top Tier JIP , is, among other things, working to establish better crew training to prevent and respond to fire incidences, including fostering a safety-first culture with rigorous management procedures in place.⁸

For this, OneOcean’s Docmap, a mobile and web-based solution for the management of QHSE operations on vessels and onshore, can provide paper-free access to all relevant information. The application simplifies compliance processes and document management with modules for risk assessments, audits, and incidents. Users can create dynamic check lists for operational risk assessments.

The solution can be complemented by Regs4ships a trusted source for live and archived official regulatory publications, meeting all mandatory compliance and carriage requirements. These include SOLAS, an important international treaty concerning the safety of merchant ships, which is frequently reviewed and amended by IMO member states. The IMDG code, an international code for the maritime transport of dangerous goods in packaged form, is also included and regularly updated on the platform. All documents are searchable by both onboard and onshore users.

A collective effort for safer seas

Overcoming cargo-fire risk requires a unified approach, combining crew readiness, digital compliance, and proactive cargo-risk management. With the right technology and information at their fingertips, operators can better plan, react, and mitigate incidents before they escalate, protecting crews, cargo, and the oceans that sustain global trade.