Last week, we reported that the Felicity Ace, a ship carrying around 4,000 Volkswagen Group vehicles from various brands had caught fire off the coast of Portugal and was adrift after its 22 crew were successfully rescued. Local reports now say that the fires have subsided.
The ship is capable of carrying up to 4,000 vehicles in total, and some of the vehicles it transported were either electric or hybrid and featured lithium-ion batteries. Although it remains unclear what caused the fire, authorities say the batteries, which are notoriously difficult to extinguish once they catch fire, had kept the fires burning aboard the ship.
“The fire has subsided in recent hours,” João Mendes Cabeças, captain of the nearest port in the Azorean island of Faial said, per Reuters, adding that there was little material left to burn.
Latest look at the Felicity Ace. Not looking good for the cars inside pic.twitter.com/qUBCcHLCsn
— Mike Schuler (@MikeSchuler) February 18, 2022
“Our concern has been with pollution since the ship has large amounts of fuel onboard and car batteries but so far there are no hotbeds of pollution,” Cabeças said. Those concerns had been fanned by the fire’s progress towards the fuel tanks but that now seems to be less of a concern.
With the subsiding fire, though, he said that teams might be able to board the ship to prepare it for towing to Europe or the Bahamas.
VWs, Bentleys, Audis And Porsches On Board
Volkswagen has not yet officially confirmed the total number of vehicles aboard the ship, but a Porsche spokesperson gave us some details on its estimates.
“We believe around 1,100 of our cars are affected. These cars were destined to be sold in America,” the spokesperson told Carscoops in an email. “While it remains too early to confirm what occurred and next steps, we are – along with our colleagues at Porsche AG – supporting our customers and our dealers as best we can to find solutions. Anyone concerned by this incident and the implications on the car they’ve ordered should contact their Porsche dealer.”
In a separate report, Bloomberg, quoting an internal VW email, said that the ship was carrying 3,965 vehicles, out of which 1,100 were Porsches and 189 were Bentleys. Audi and Volkswagen confirmed that they had cars onboard as well, but would not release any specific numbers. Lamborghini, which is also believed to may have had vehicles on the cargo ship, has not yet responded to our request for a comment.
Loss Estimated At Over $282 Million
U.S. economist Patrick Anderson told Autonews that he estimated the initial loss to be around $282 million, not taking into account the downstream loss at dealerships. “Looking at the entire cargo, assuming that three-fourths of the vehicles are a total loss, and averaging the wholesale value at a lower amount (accounting for the VWs plus some Bentleys and many Audis), suggests this involves about $376,675,000 worth of cargo. Probably three-fourths of that, or $282,506,250 is a total loss, if the ship is indeed still burning as of now”, Anderson told the publication.
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