Guidelines to safely transport electric vehicles on Canadian ferries - SSB No.: 04/2024

Purpose

This bulletin highlights information about the carriage of electric vehicles (EVs) on ferries.

Scope

This bulletin applies to Canadian ferries.

What you need to know

EVs are becoming more common in Canada. While EVs are not more prone to fires than vehicles with an internal combustion engine, EV fires require special procedures as the fires can burn hotter, last longer, and are more likely to re-ignite once extinguished.^{Footnote 1}

Available guidelines

The International Maritime Organization is developing guidance for the carriage of EVs on passenger vessels.

Until those guidelines are published, Transport Canada strongly recommends that ferry operators use existing operational guidance and firefighting procedures targeting EVs and take steps to train crew on how to deal with these types of fires on-board their vessels.

The guidance documents listed below include information about EV fires on vessels:

• Best practices for the transport of electric vehicles on board vessels (PDF, 7 MB) from the American Bureau of Shipping
• Guidance on the carriage of Alternative Fuel Vehicles (AFVs) in ro-ro spaces of cargo and passenger ships (PDF, 1.1 MB) from the European Maritime Safety Agency
• Guidance MGN 653 (M) Amendment 1 electric vehicles onboard passenger roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) ferries from the Maritime & Coastguard Agency
• Best practice & recommendations for the safe carriage for electric vehicles (EVs) from the International Union of Marine Insurance
• Safety videos from Lash Fire

Keywords:

1. Electric vehicles (EV)
2. Ferry/ferries
3. Fire

Questions concerning this Bulletin should be addressed to:

Contact us at: Email: marinesafety-securitemaritime@tc.gc.ca or Telephone: 1-855-859-3123 (Toll Free).