The Felicity Ace, a cargo ship carrying almost 4,000 Volkswagen Group automobiles, as the corporate confirmed, caught hearth off the coast of Portugal this week. All 22 crew had been rescued by the Portuguese navy and are actually secure, however the destiny of the automobiles aboard the ship, reportedly headed for the U.S., is unknown.

The Felicity Ace left the port of Emden, Germany, on February 10 and was anticipated to land at Davisville, Rhode Island, on the morning of February 23. The deserted ship incorporates automobiles from the Volkswagen, Audi, Lamborghini, Porsche and Bugatti manufacturers and is now drifting within the Atlantic.

“We’re conscious of an incident at the moment involving a cargo ship transporting Volkswagen Group automobiles throughout the Atlantic,” a spokesperson advised Insider in an e mail. “Presently, we’re not conscious of any accidents. We’re working with native authorities and the transport firm to research the reason for the incident.”

The ship transmitted a misery sign on the morning of Wednesday, February 16 following a hearth that had damaged out on one of many cargo decks. Naftika Chronika reviews that the crew of the Felicity Ace took to a lifeboat and had been picked up by the Resilient Warrior, a tanker operated by a Greek firm. The outlet indicated yesterday that 11 of the crew had been picked up by a Portuguese Navy helicopter and photographs shared from the tanker present smoke rising from the Felicity Ace.

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Authorities had been nonetheless making an attempt to get the hearth beneath management yesterday and neither Porsche nor Volkswagen appear to know if the automobiles will likely be salvageable, per statements despatched to The Drive.

Matt Farah, of The Smoking Tire, posted {that a} Porsche Boxster Spyder that he ordered in August was on the Felicity Ace and he recommended the automobile could be misplaced. Porsche, although, mentioned that no additional particulars of the particular automobiles affected had been accessible yesterday, advising prospects to talk to their native sellers. It added that its “rapid ideas are of the 22 crew.”

Inbuilt 2005, the Felicity Ace is 656 ft lengthy and 104 ft large. It could actually carry 17,738 tons and, totally laden, can transport almost 4,000 automobiles, which was the case right here.

Porsche has had a run of current unhealthy luck with its transport efforts. In 2019, the Grande America sank off the coast of France and among the many automobiles onboard had been a number of 911 GT2 RSs headed for Brazil. After that incident, the corporate put the automobile again into manufacturing after it had formally ended to be able to fulfill the orders of the purchasers whose automobiles had been misplaced within the incident.

I simply acquired the decision from my supplier. My automobile is now adrift, presumably on hearth, in the midst of the ocean. https://t.co/Ge2DYk8IJ0

— Matt “I Park Automobiles” Farah (@TheSmokingTire) February 16, 2022

Lead picture credit Ron Aaron / Fb