Morning Midas: Resilient Car Carrier Emerges Unscathed from Fire Incident

According to a recent report from maritime safety experts, the car carrier Morning Midas, which faced a fire in its electric vehicle cargo area on June 3, has shown no current signs of flames following an evaluation by salvage teams. The specialized firefighting tug Garth Foss took charge of the situation on June 15, succeeding the tug Gretchen Dunlap that had been managing operations as June 9. Another tug with long-range towing capabilities is anticipated to join within the week.

Salvage and firefighting professionals aboard Garth Foss confirmed that both thermal imaging and visual checks revealed no active fire onboard.They also noted that there was no evidence of pollution in the surrounding waters and assured that the vessel’s watertight integrity remains secure.

The incident unfolded when smoke was first spotted during the ship’s journey from yantai, China to Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico. Fortunately,all 22 crew members were safely evacuated by another merchant vessel named cosco Hellas.

The Morning Midas is quite substantial at 600 feet long and was transporting a total of 3,159 vehicles—this included 65 fully electric cars and an additional 681 hybrid models—alongside around 350 metric tons of gas fuel and approximately 1,530 metric tons of very low sulfur fuel oil.

In response to this incident, Resolve Marine has been tasked by Zodiac Maritime to execute thorough salvage operations while working under U.S. Coast Guard supervision. Pollution control measures are also ready for deployment if necessary.