New report reveals hidden lithium-ion battery risk driving rise in container ship fires

A new report by Tigris and Thetius finds that latest fire incident records show a 20% year-on-year increase in fires on shipping vessels with a major container ship fire now occurring roughly every 17 days worldwide, with undeclared and mis-declared goods a leading cause.

Such rapid growth has exposed the lack of rigour in the global shipping process and specific issues with Special Provision 188 (SP188), a regulation rule under international transport codes and one of the key regulations governing how lithium cells and batteries move through the supply chain. 

It means not only are ships at greater risk of fires, but the global supply chain also faces catastrophic impact. This is according to the report released this week by pioneering adaptive infrastructure Tigris and maritime research firm Thetius, ‘Before the Fire: Dangerous goods safety and the visibility gap’. 

The risks are not hypothetical. In June 2025, an undeclared explosive substance is believed to have caused a container to explode below deck on the Wan Hai 503, 44 nautical miles off the Kerala coast; none of the crew could have known it was there, and four never made it home. A year earlier, in August 2024, a dangerous-goods container carrying 16 tonnes of heat-sensitive peroxide exploded at Ningbo's Beilun terminal after being booked into an unpowered refrigerated container during a summer heatwave, causing an estimated US$13 million in direct losses.

Lithium batteries are entering global supply chains, often found inside everyday products that may not be instantly recognised as hazardous. From tools, appliances and vehicles to electronics and other products that appear routine in the booking description or commodity code, Lithium-ion cells are ubiquitous.

SP188 allows certain lithium cells and batteries to move under reduced requirements if they meet testing and packaging rules. They are less visible because they do not go through the same declaration and approval process as fully regulated dangerous goods.

For example, imagine a container of battery-powered tools. Its Safety Data Sheet (SDS) is submitted at booking, but a correction to the UN number (a four-digit code used worldwide to identify hazardous materials and dangerous goods during transport) further in the process reaches only the carrier's dangerous goods team. If the booking record, terminal instruction and vessel plan are not updated, the container can continue through the process using outdated information.

“It’s time carriers don’t wait on regulation to change. They need to act now to change how they ship safely, particularly when everyday items can so easily become ‘dangerous goods’,” concludes Tom Bebbington, Maritime Expert Witness - Tigris, 

The full report, ‘Before the Fire: Dangerous goods safety and the visibility gap’, is available to download here: https://tigris.systems/dangerous-goods-report.