Marine batteries are special starter and deep-cycle batteries designed for use in boats and other recreational equipment used on water. They are used in place of traditional lead-acid automotive batteries and employ features that support specific requirements of your boat’s engine and running systems. Some marine batteries protect against brutal operating conditions that include vibration, high temperatures, and include maintenance-free plate designs that minimize battery corrosion and fluid loss.
Marine Starting Batteries provide quick but powerful spurts of energy over short periods of time and are designed to start the engine and be rapidly recharged by the engine alternator. Hence, ferries, dynamic positioning ships and platforms, tugs, dredging ships, short range ships, wind farm support vessels need batteries.
Ferry Photo Courtesy: gCaptain
The best performing marine batteries are typically made with thicker and heavier plates to withstand the harsh operating conditions of marine applications. Certain types of products, such as AGM batteries, feature sealed and dryfit construction to deliver higher capacities and prevent electrolyte leaks to reduce the risk of damage to marine equipment. Choosing the right type of marine battery is important to support the Vessel’s specific needs and to ensure reliable battery performance and longevity.
Marine batteries are safe, but pose limited dangers. Lithium cells & batteries can become dangerous and cause fires or electrical shocks, if not safely packed/handled while in transportation. The vibration in transport and shocks could cause structural damage to the battery encasing, triggering short-circuit.
Unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV) use Lithium Iron Phosphate Cell batteries. Li-ion batteries expose the ships for higher explosion risks compared to Lithium Iron Phosphate ones. Many Ferries today use Li-Ion batteries, as they are cheaper than safer batteries like Lithium Iron Phosphate Batteries.
AGCS (Allianz) analysis of over 240,000 marine insurance industry claims over the past five years (with a value of €9.2bn), shows that fire/explosion (from all causes) is the most expensive cause of loss, accounting for 18% of the value of all claims.
“Li-ion battery fires may be rarer than internal combustion engine fires, but they still take longer and more effort to put out when they do occur. An affected EV needs to be fully submerged, but how do you do that on a fast ferry? People think you can just dump tonnes of water over it, but it’s not practical.” (Tony Hout, Director, Stream Marine Technical to Ship & Boat International)
Battery Room Fire in same Ferry Courtesy: “Offshore Engineer”
How is it relevant to Marine Insurance Students? There is a risk of Hull Policy exclusion if there is a Class Society recommendation for maintenance of a battery in a ferry. If ship management (small one man set up) ignores it, Insurers could walk away from liability, even if there is a loss for another reason. Incidentally, ABS has come up with a separate release on battery operations in vessels.
Norwegian Maritime Authority recommends that all shipowners with vessels that have battery installations, carry out a new risk assessment of the dangers connected to possible accumulations of explosive gases during unwanted incidents in the battery systems,” the Norwegian Maritime Authority said in statement.
Alternatively, British Columbia-based, Corvus Energy, which supplied the ferry’s battery system, has issued recommendations to operators not to sail without communication between the shipboard energy management system and the battery packs, as well as what to do in case of a gas release or “thermal runaway situation. (Courtesy: gCaptain)
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