View the April news bulletin in full: IIMS News Bulletin April 2026 (pdf format) or click to read it in eReader magazine format.
Two ‘lite’ podcast versions are also available to listen to. Yacht & Small Craft Surveyors (run time 24 minutes) and Commercial Ship Surveyors (run time 27 minutes).
It troubles me once again that I feel the need to start this month’s column by raising the topic of lithium-ion battery fires, especially as the story I want to share with you is a land-based one that happened recently, and not a maritime disaster. You may know of my keen interest in this technology and the challenges surrounding it. The incident I want to speak about, and share with you, is a massive fire in the Scottish city of Glasgow. A major fire broke out in a vape shop adjacent to the city’s main railway station. Over the coming hours, the fire devastated an iconic 130-year-old Victorian building, leading to its eventual collapse, so intense was the conflagration. Imagine a similar situation on a boat or ship?