Blogs
Perspectives on maritime safety, RoRo operations, the insurance climate, and how we are thinking about the next few years of the trade.
IMO SSE 12 and the 2032 Vehicle-Carrier Package
The IMO Ship Systems and Equipment sub-committee has the vehicle-carrier-specific SOLAS package in deliberation. The 2032 target sounds far away — the work programme is not.
The Morning Midas and What the Trade Quietly Learned
A 2006-built PCTC, 3,159 vehicles including 65 BEVs and 681 hybrids, abandoned 300 nm south of Adak in June 2025. The lessons did not make the press releases.
General Average — The Cost Cargo Owners Don't See Coming
When a PCTC declares General Average, every cargo owner on board contributes proportionally to the loss. Most cargo interests do not understand this until the demand letter arrives.
SOLAS II-2/20 — What the January 2026 Amendment Actually Requires
The amendment quietly took effect on 1 January 2026. The text is short. The operational implications for vehicle carriers and ro-ro pax are not.
The Salvage Economics of a Burning Vehicle Carrier
Hull value is the headline number. The real cost of a RoRo fire is salvage, wreck removal, cargo claims, and the route capacity that quietly disappears for months after.
The Vehicle Carrier Safety Forum and What Its Guidelines Set in Motion
A forum of ship operators and insurers formed VCSF specifically because the loss record on car carriers had outpaced existing guidance. The implications go beyond fire response.
What Port State Control Now Looks At on Vehicle Decks
PSC inspectors arriving on vehicle carriers in 2026 have a different checklist than they did in 2022. Detention rates on RoRo tonnage are quietly climbing.
NTSB and USCG Recommendations After the Recent Car-Carrier Casualties
The NTSB investigations into Felicity Ace and Höegh Xiamen produced specific recommendations. Several are now USCG policy. Operators on U.S. trades are already inside the new envelope.
What Causes EV Fires in RoRo Ships?
The headline answer is "lithium-ion batteries." The operational answer is more useful — five compounding factors that turn an unremarkable fault into a casualty.
IUMI's "Fixed-First" Approach — What It Means on the Bridge
The 2025 IUMI best-practice update made the priority order explicit: activate fixed systems before any manual intervention. The reasoning is sharper than most operators have absorbed.
Höegh Xiamen — The CTL Precedent That Set the Modern Underwriting Tone
A 2020 fire at Jacksonville produced a constructive total loss declaration and a $26M insurance settlement. The case shaped how every car-carrier underwriter looks at root cause.
P&I Renewal 2026 — What Changed for RoRo Tonnage
The February 2026 P&I renewal cycle priced car carriers harder than any prior year in living memory. The reasons read like a casualty inventory.
What a False Alarm Actually Costs a Master at Sea
It is not the few minutes of bridge attention. It is what happens to crew trust in the system on every subsequent alert. Two false alarms can take a detection layer offline informally.
Why CO₂ Flooding Stopped Being the Answer After Felicity Ace
The NTSB report on Felicity Ace reads like a case study in fixed-system design failure. The fix is not "more CO₂" — it is sealing and detection.
Why RoRo Vehicle Carrier Fires Keep Happening
Lithium-ion EVs aren't the only cause — the deeper problem is detection lag on enclosed decks where heat builds for 30+ minutes before any alarm trips.
EMSA Recommendations to EU Member States After Fremantle Highway
The European Maritime Safety Agency published a recommendation set after Fremantle Highway and the Dutch Safety Board investigation. Member-state uptake is now the moving variable.
Hull Deductibles on Car Carriers — The Quiet Restructuring
Headline premiums get the press. Deductible structure is where underwriters have shifted as much exposure back to the owner since 2022.
PCC vs PCTC — Why Detection Looks Different on Each
Pure car carriers and pure car & truck carriers share the same casualty headlines but not the same cargo geometry. The detection problem shapes itself accordingly.
Subrogation and the Cargo-Manufacturer Question
If a defective EV starts a fire, can the hull insurer subrogate against the manufacturer? The answer is moving — and the case law is being made now.
The EV-Percentage Tipping Point Nobody Wants to Quote
Public statements from operators talk about "mixed cargo" — internally the conversation is about a hard percentage above which sailings should be re-routed. That number is moving.
MOL vs Volkswagen — The Cargo-Liability Question Now in Court
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines has sued Volkswagen over the loss of Felicity Ace. The outcome will reshape how cargo interests, carriers, and insurers price EV risk.
What Actually Changed in the Trade After Fremantle Highway
The 2023 casualty was the inflection. Two years on, the changes you can attribute to it are not where the press coverage suggested they would be.
CINS Lithium-Ion Guidelines for Containers — and What They Imply for RoRo
CINS and the IG of P&I Clubs published container-focused Li-ion guidance. The procedural template translates directly to vehicle-carrier loading interfaces.
Multi-Fuel PCTCs Change What the Deck Looks Like Thermally
Aurora-class, LNG-fuelled, methanol- and ammonia-ready hulls bring new thermal profiles to vehicle decks. The detection baseline is not the same as on a conventional PCTC.
How Insurance Pricing Is Quietly Reshaping the RoRo Trade
After the 2022 PCTC losses, hull and cargo underwriters have moved from "EV surcharge" to outright capacity withdrawal on certain routes. The fleet has to respond.
The Quiet Argument Over State-of-Charge at Loading
No public standard exists for the state of charge of an EV when it rolls onto a vehicle carrier. The argument behind closed doors is intense — and the number matters more than most people realise.
What Bridge Crew Actually Need From a Detection System
We sat with masters and chief officers across four operators. The list of what they want is shorter — and more pragmatic — than most product teams assume.
How EU MRV and FuelEU Are Bending the Detection Conversation
On the surface, EU emissions regulation has nothing to do with vehicle-deck fires. Look at how operators are budgeting in 2026 and the link is unmistakable.
Designing a Safety Layer You Can Retrofit Without Drydock
A cargo-hold sensor grid only matters if it can be installed without taking the ship out of service for weeks. Here is how we approach the constraint.
Compliance Is Arriving — IMO Sub-Committee Outcomes for 2027
The CCC sub-committee outcomes from late 2025 telegraph a regulatory floor for vehicle-deck monitoring. Operators that wait to retrofit will be behind a hard date.
Lashing the Cargo Is Not the Same as Protecting It
Lashing crews secure vehicles against motion. Detection systems protect them against ignition. Conflating the two has cost more than one operator real money.