Further underlining the extent of risk of misdeclared cargo, the US Coast Guard Inspections and Compliance Directorate has issued a Marine Safety Alert on lithium battery fires.

The alert stems from a container fire in August 2021. The incident happened during road transport, but could have caused a much more dangerous vessel fire.

The alert reads: “On August 19, 2021, a container illegally loaded with discarded lithium batteries caught fire while enroute to the Port of Virginia. The container was being transported on a chassis from Raleigh, NC, intended for a maritime voyage to a port in China via a foreign-flagged container ship. The batteries caught fire on the highway resulting in loss of the cargo, and significant damage to the shipping container. Upon initial investigation, the responding fire department determined that the heat produced from the fire burned hot enough to create a hole through the metal container’s structure. In addition, the bill of lading listed “computer parts,” not lithium batteries. This is a situation that made responding to the fire more challenging and could have been potentially catastrophic had the container caught fire after being loaded aboard the container ship.

“Further investigation by the Department of Transportation (DOT) and Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) determined that the shipper failed to properly placard, label, mark and package the lithium batteries, class 9, UN 3480 and 3481, and identified the cause of fire to be residual charge/full circuit, which led to a thermal increase”.

The Coast Guard issued its alert to increase awareness of the hazards around lithium batteries and the need for those handling them to have awareness of IMDG Special provisions 376 and 377, and follow the relevant instructions and packing guides. The US Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has produced a Lithium Battery Guide for Shippers that sets out compliance requirements for all modes of transportation and was updated in September 2021.

There is growing recognition of the problem of battery fires in the recycling and waste management process, which is not just a transportation issue. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently tried to quantify the problem of battery fires in waste management and recycling. Its report (published in July 2021) found 64 waste facilities that experienced 245 fires that were caused by, or likely caused by, lithium metal or lithium-ion batteries in the seven years between 2013 and 2020.