The fire began on Tuesday night on the 199-metre Panama-registered Fremantle Highway, which was en route from Germany to Egypt, forcing several crew members to jump overboard.
Rescue ships sprayed water onto the burning boat to cool it down, but using too much water risked its sinking, the Dutch coastguard said.
The coastguard said on its website that the cause of the fire was unknown, but a coastguard spokesperson had earlier told Reuters it began near an electric car.
Coastguard spokesperson Edwin Granneman said salvage experts were trying to work out next steps for the burning boat.
A fire destroyed thousands of luxury cars on a ship off the coast of Portugal's Azores islands in February last year.
Persons:
Edwin Versteeg, Willard Molenaar, Molenaar, Edwin Granneman, Shoei Kisen, Charlotte Van Campenhout, Rishabh, Anthony Deutsch, Alison Williams, Andrew Cawthorne
Organizations:
coastguard, Fremantle Highway, Dutch coastguard, Dutch Department of Waterways, Public, Reuters, Fremantle, Royal Dutch Rescue Company, Coastguard, Thomson
Locations:
Germany, Egypt, AMSTERDAM, Panama, Bremerhaven, Ameland, Dutch, Jersey, Portugal's Azores