A large cargo ship carrying luxury cars from Germany to the United States sank in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean after a fire broke out on board.
A catastrophic event occurred at sea in February 2022. The Felicity Ace, a giant cargo ship transporting thousands of luxury cars across the Atlantic, caught fire. The giant ship eventually sank to the bottom of the sea along with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of goods.
According to Autoevolution, among the nearly 4,000 Volkswagen Group cars that sank into the Atlantic Ocean, there were about 1,900 Audis, 1,100 Porsches, 500 Volkswagens, 189 super luxury cars of the Bentley brand and 85 Lamborghini supercars. Most of the cars damaged in this accident were cars that had been ordered by customers. Therefore, immediately after the sinking of the Felicity Ace ship occurred, many dealers as well as car manufacturers made plans to compensate customers.
The Felicity Ace, classified as a “Pure Car Carrier,” can travel at speeds of up to 22.3 knots. It has a carrying capacity of 17,738 tons and a total tonnage of 60,118 tons. Built in 2005, the ship has a length of 199.99 meters with an engine power of up to 15,286 kW!
This car-carrying ship caught fire in the North Atlantic at about 9 a.m. on February 16, 2022. The Felicity Ace was carrying more than 4,000 luxury cars when the disaster occurred at a distance of 90 nautical miles (about 167 km) southwest of the Portuguese Azores archipelago.
The transport ship Felicity Ace is operated by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd (Japan) suddenly caught fire in the Atlantic Ocean, while transporting thousands of cars, including many luxury German cars. The ship Felicity Ace carries the Panamanian flag and was built in 2005. This ship is about 200 meters long, and has a tonnage of 17,738 tons.
Although rescuers tried to pull the ship, it still lost balance during the towing process. It eventually sank about 25 nautical miles (about 46 kilometers) beyond Portugal’s exclusive economic zone, at a depth of about 9,842 feet (about 2,999 meters).
The crew of 22 were safely rescued with the help of commercial ships and helicopters as the fire raged for days. After the fire broke out in the cargo hold, it quickly spread throughout the ship.
On February 25, 2022, the fire was extinguished.
According to Mitsui O.S.K Lines, the fire was reported at around 11:30 a.m. on February 16 (local time), when the ship was on its way from Germany to the US, carrying about 4,000 cars, including Porsches and other cars. Other vehicles are produced by the German Volkswagen group.
The ship Felicity Ace was carrying cars worth an estimated $401 million when the accident occurred! The goods include a variety of luxury vehicles, such as Porsches, Audis, Bentleys and Lamborghinis.
Among the vehicles on board are 85 Lamborghinis, including 15 limited edition Aventador Ultimae models. In addition, the ship also carried 189 Bentleys, 1,110 Porsches and the last batch of Lamborghini Aventadors. The goods also include a 1977 Land Rover Santana, a Porsche 718 Boxster GTS 4.0 and the 65th Honda Prelude SiR ever built. All luxury cars on board the Felicity Ace are now considered unrecoverable.
A large number of burning electric cars on the ship Felicity Ace drifting in the mid-Atlantic ocean are complicating efforts by a team of experts from the Netherlands who have been contracted to salvage the ship. It is unclear whether the fire originated from electric cars containing lithium-ion batteries inside.
While the exact cause of the Felicity Ace fire remains unclear, local officials have pointed out that the vehicle’s electric vehicle battery may have been a factor in the difficulty in extinguishing the blaze.
Lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles (EVs) inside cargo ships can complicate firefighting efforts, requiring extensive heat and water mitigation measures. Experts say that when on fire, these batteries are difficult to extinguish with water and the fire can often flare up again due to residual heat.
However, environmental experts are even more concerned that the incident could have a wider impact on the marine ecosystem surrounding the accident site, i.e. the Azores archipelago.
The Azores are located in the mid-Atlantic, about 1,000 miles from land, and are an important habitat for many aquatic creatures such as coral reefs, tuna, sharks and dolphins. The surrounding underwater mountains also make it an important stopover for migrating whales in search of food. Unfortunately, the Felicity Ace accident caused more than 2,000 tons of oil, fuel and other pollutants to spill into the Azores’ marine ecosystem.
Although Felicity Ace managers claimed that only a thin layer of oil emerged, experts believe that sunken car batteries and oil and gas tanks pose a significant threat to marine life.
The ship carrying nearly 4,000 luxury cars officially sank into the sea, many cars had to be re-produced even though they were declared dead.
The ship carrying nearly 4,000 luxury cars from Volkswagen, Porsche, and Lamborghini sank at a depth of about 10,000 meters underwater.
Despite all efforts to save, the ship Felicity Ace sank off the coast of Portugal – Photo: Marinha Portuguesa.
The luxury car ship Felicity Ace, which caught fire off the coast of Portugal on February 16, sank despite rescue efforts. The official information page about the ship confirmed that the Felicity Ace sank 220 nautical miles off the coast of the Azores region of Portugal.
Currently, there is no more detailed information about the sinking. The ship management board said it would update the situation later. It is still unclear what sparked the fire on the cargo deck where the vehicles were stored, but according to The Drive, it is very likely that the lithium-ion batteries of the electric vehicle models on the ship prolonged the fire and caused difficulties for passengers. fire extinguishing.
Last week, risk assessment firm Russell Group estimated that the train fire could cost Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini at least $155 million, with nearly 4,000 cars burned.
Automakers have been trying to find ways to replace lost cars. According to The Drive, Lamborghini may restart Aventador production because the last ones were buried with the ship.
Similarly, owners of Bentleys and Porsches on board will have to wait many more months, even a year, for the manufacturer to find a way to compensate customers. However, with the prolonged chip shortage crisis and the conflict in Ukraine, there is no clear timeline for when customers can receive their cars.
The ship carrying nearly 4,000 super luxury Porsche, Bentley, and Audi cars caught fire and drifted at .
