Authored by Mike Schwarz, IIMS Chief Executive Officer
“Mike’s suffering from mild hysteria”, they said. Well, perhaps I have been, yes. The cause of my hysteria? Lithium-ion batteries and fires caused by them! There are believed to have been nearly 70 fires last year alone involving large and superyachts. As more new information on this subject comes to light on a regular basis, I simply have to come back to it time and time again and share what we know. It is a massive and worrying subject and one that is consuming the finest technical minds in the marine world right now. We all need to be aware of the phenomenon for it will not resolve any time soon. As always, I say I understand fully the need to decarbonize and embrace this Continue reading “Are lithium-ion batteries safe on yachts – and other vessels?”
The European Maritime Safety Agency (
In recent years, 
Following a recent marine casualty resulting in an engine room fire onboard a commercial fishing vessel, the US Coast Guard (
The Canal & River Trust (
hips, bridges and wind turbines can all be made safe using sensors that are just a few millimeters across. Researchers have borrowed the principle behind the technology from a vibrating guitar string.
Combustible materials left unprotected near hot work led to a fire on the passenger vessel Natchez in New Orleans, the National Transportation Safety Board (
Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF) and the inland navigation sector, with the support of the Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine (CCNR), have collaborated with other European organisations to produce the second edition of the International Safety Guide for Inland Navigation Tank-barges and Terminals (
Ship operations take place in hostile and corrosive environments meaning that the structural strength of the ship’s hull may deteriorate with time leading to buckling or structural instability. Buckling has long been recognised as one of the main modes of failure of ship structural elements and 
