COSCO Pacific: Misdeclared lithium batteries identified as cause of fire

Improperly declared lithium battery cargo has been identified as the cause of a fire on board Chinese COSCO Shipping containership COSCO Pacific.

Under the International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code batteries, regardless of the chemical used, are characterised as dangerous goods due to their corrosive character.

This means that, in order to be stored correctly and to avoid a fire hazard, they must be declared correctly.