The Felicity Ace, a huge Panama-flagged cargo ship carrying thousands of Volkswagen Group vehicles, caught fire on Wednesday afternoon near the Azores islands in the Atlantic Ocean. The ship carried 22 members who were successfully evacuated and was taken to a local hospital by the Portuguese Navy and Air Force, who were stationed for helping out the rescue process, as per the statement by the Navy. The ship was left unmanned and adrift.
According to the internal email from Volkswagen’s US operation, there were 3,965 Volkswagen AG vehicles were present on the ship. Having headquarters in Germany’s Wolfsburg, the group apart from manufacturing its Volkswagen brand, also has Porsche, Audi, and Lamborghini were in the ship at the time it caught fire.
The email read that over 100 cars in the ship was on the way to Port of Houston in Texas, with GTI, Golf R, and ID.4 models deemed to be at risk. The mishap occurred at a time when the automobile industry is already experiencing issues in an ongoing supply chain, including pandemic labor woes and semiconductor chip shortages.
Luke Vandezande, a spokesperson for Porsche stated that the company estimates that there were around 1,100 of its vehicles onboard the ship at the time of the fire. He also stated that the customers affected by the incident are being contacted by their automobile dealers. “Our immediate thoughts are of relief that the 22 crew of the merchant ship Felicity Ace are safe and well,” Vandezande said.
This is not the first time the manufacturer lost merchandise at sea. In 2019, Grande America caught fire and sank with over 2,000 luxury cars including Audi and Porsche sinking with it.
A spokesperson for Lamborghini’s U.S. branch declined to comment on the number of cars the ship was carrying and which models were affected, however, said that they are in contact with the shipping company to get more information about the incident.
Felicity Ace is roughly the size of three football fields and was on its way to a port in Davisville, R.I. when an alarm was issued due to a fire on one of its cargo desks.
On Wednesday night, the ship’s owner was arranging for the vessel to be towed, said the Navy. They decided to remain on site to observe the situation. No traces of pollution have been detected so far.
