Why Is There No EV-Specific SOLAS Fire Rule?

No EV-specific SOLAS fire rule exists, and none is imminent. The binding amendments in force since 1 January 2026 — Resolution MSC.550(108) — are deliberately fuel-agnostic, covering every vehicle on the deck. The IMO output aimed specifically at new energy vehicles, opened at MSC 105 in April 2022, is still reviewing studies and identifying hazards, with no draft amendment yet.

What the 2026 rules actually regulate

The current vehicle-deck fire package is fuel-blind. Resolution MSC.550(108), adopted 23 May 2024 and in force for newbuilds from 1 January 2026, upgrades fixed detection, adds video monitoring, and requires weather-deck water monitors across vehicle, special category and ro-ro spaces — for all vehicles, not battery-electric ones specifically. Existing cargo ships and ro-ro passenger ships are caught at the first survey on or after 1 January 2028.

• Upgraded fixed fire detection — heat detectors added to smoke detection — in vehicle, special category and ro-ro spaces.
• An effective video monitoring and recording system covering those spaces.
• A fixed water-based monitor system protecting weather decks intended for the carriage of vehicles.
• Applies to every vehicle carried — no separate threshold or arrangement is triggered by an EV.

Where the new-energy-vehicle work actually sits

The EV-specific output is years from a rule. The MSC added "Evaluation of adequacy of fire protection, detection and extinction arrangements in vehicle, special category and ro-ro spaces in order to reduce the fire risk of ships carrying new energy vehicles" to its agenda at MSC 105 in April 2022, allotting four sessions to complete it. The sub-committee was told to first assess scope, identify the areas to review, and get a roadmap approved before drafting any amendment.

Four years on, the work is still at the study-review and hazard-identification stage. SSE 11 (February 2025) ran correspondence groups reporting back to SSE 12 (March 2026), which revised the action plan rather than agreeing draft text. Goals and functional requirements come before amendments — and those are not yet set.

Why IMO is not writing an 'EV rule'

The fuel-agnostic approach is a deliberate reading of the casualty evidence, not an oversight. IUMI's position, drawn from ro-ro fire data, is that conventional internal-combustion vehicles burn just as fiercely as electric ones once a deck fire is established — so a regime keyed to any vehicle fire protects the ship better than one keyed to battery chemistry. Early detection and rapid response are the levers; the propulsion type of the first car to ignite is secondary to whether the fire is caught in minutes.

What MSC 110 did — and didn't — change

MSC 110 (18–27 June 2025) opened days after the car carrier Morning Midas caught fire in the Pacific on 3 June 2025, and the casualty was raised in the committee's opening remarks. It did not produce an EV-specific fire rule. The vehicle-carrier detection package being progressed through the SSE sub-committee — in the same work cycle as containership measures such as portable infrared thermal imagers and water mist lances — is on a 2032 entry-into-force horizon. Until then the binding floor is the fuel-agnostic 2026/2028 package.

What this means for operators

Don't wait for an "EV rule" to size the risk. The binding obligations are already dated — first survey on or after 1 January 2028 for the existing fleet — and they are fuel-blind, so a compliance plan should be too. Insurers, ports and class societies are not waiting for the NEV output to close; they are pricing detection capability now. A fuel-agnostic early-detection layer satisfies the 2026/2028 floor and positions tonnage for whatever the NEV work eventually specifies, without betting on a battery-specific rule the evidence may never justify.

Sources

• IMO Resolution MSC.550(108) — Amendments to SOLAS Chapter II-2 (adopted 23 May 2024; in force 1 January 2026).
• IMO — Maritime Safety Committee, 105th session (MSC 105, April 2022): new-energy-vehicle fire-risk output added to the agenda, four sessions allotted.
• IMO — Maritime Safety Committee, 110th session (MSC 110, 18–27 June 2025) meeting summary and Secretary-General opening remarks.
• IMO — Sub-Committee on Ship Systems and Equipment (SSE 11, February 2025; SSE 12, March 2026) outcome reports.
• IUMI — analysis of ro-ro fires: conventional vehicles burn as fiercely as EVs (via The Maritime Executive, 2025).
• DNV / Lloyd's Register — MSC 110 and SSE 12 regulatory summaries (2025–2026).