Japan’s Mitsui O.S.Okay. Traces will probably be deploying an AI-based system developed by an Israeli startup in its efforts to enhance hearth security aboard the corporate’s automobile carriers. The hazards of fireplace at sea are well-known whereas remaining one of many main casualties. The business is looking for new options to deal with the risks of runaway fires, particularly from EVs and lithium-ion batteries.
All of MOL’s automobile carriers are at the moment geared up with hearth alarms based totally on smoke detectors. Firms have taken steps to extend the hearth precautions however nonetheless, there have been catastrophic losses. MOL suffered one such casualty in February 2022 when its vessel the Felicity Ace caught hearth about 90 nautical miles to the southwest of Faial, an island within the middle of the Azores. The vessel was evacuated and the hearth burned for days earlier than the ship was misplaced. The ship was carrying roughly 4,000 automobiles, together with Lamborghinis, Audis, and Volkswagens, with estimates that the monetary loss would exceed $400 million.
Whereas the reason for the hearth was by no means established and EV producers contend that their autos pose no higher danger, battery fires current a singular set of challenges. They burn hotter and rapidly change into runaway occasions which can be almost not possible to cease. Weeks after the hearth on one other automobile service, the Fremantle Freeway earlier this yr, one of many EVs salvaged from the ship was nonetheless soldering when it was introduced off the ship requiring a dousing methodology to extinguish the hearth.
MOL reviews that it’ll set up an AI system developed by Israeli firm Captain’s Eye on 10 new LNG-fueled automobile carriers that it at the moment has on order. The ships will start to enter service in 2024 and they’re additionally contemplating retrofitting the system to in-service vessels. MOL’s March 2023 report confirmed that it at the moment has 96 automobile carriers and plans to develop to as many as 120 vessels within the phase.
They report that they’ve performed demonstration exams with Captain’s Eye to discover the AI system’s smoke detection capabilities of the system. Captain’s Eye AI methods are already used to detect abnormalities within the engine room and on deck and have been launched on service provider ships and different vessels together with yachts around the globe.
Utilizing cameras in cargo holds aboard the automobile service Onyx Ace, an 18,500 dwt pure automobile service launched in 2012. It has a capability for about 6,500 autos. In collaboration with Captain’s Eye, MOL says that it has improved the system’s performance by a number of exams, and has confirmed its effectiveness, together with the profitable detection of small quantities of smoke.
The system will analyze photographs from cameras that will probably be put in across the automobile decks of the vessel. When it detects abnormalities within the photographs, the system sends an alert to crewmembers each aboard the vessel and to the onshore ship administration workforce. MOL believes the system will allow sooner smoke detection and that the pictures will assist the workforce on the ship and shore to reply faster and handle hearth risks.
Insurance coverage large Allianz issued a market evaluation report earlier this yr citing fires as one of many persevering with risks for the maritime business and its insurers whereas highlighting the expectation that the battery market will develop by over 30 % yearly over the subsequent decade. They calculated that there have been over 200 fires reported in 2022, the best quantity for a decade. Fireplace incidents Allianz stated had been up 17 % in 2022 and so they had been the third most typical reason for incidents globally. Over the previous 5 years, they reported 64 ships had been whole losses because of the hearth.
MOL Group famous that it’s persevering with to pursue superior hearth prevention measures within the cargo areas on its automobile carriers. The AI system they consider will present one other software for earlier detection of potential risks and responses from their crews earlier than the incident has time to develop right into a doubtlessly catastrophic loss.
