Felicity Ace is a huge freighter 200 meters long. Or rather she was, before the tragedy, which occurred in recent days in the Atlantic Ocean, off the Azores. For some reason yet to be determined (although some rumors believe that the cause was the lithium batteries in electric models ), the boat caught fire. The rapid intervention of the rescue has fortunately made it possible to save the 22 crew members who were on board.
The freighter, which left Germany to go to the United States for the delivery of goods, also transported 3,965 Volkswagen Group vehicles, including 189 Bentleys and no less than 1,100 Porsche cars (but also Golf GTI and Golf R, ID.4, Audi and Lamborghini). The damage caused by the fire, according to a first estimate provided by the Irish company Skytek, should amount to about half a billion dollars. The estimate was conducted on the number of cars that burned and the market value attributed to Felicity Ace ($ 24.5 million). Obviously this figure should be fully covered by insurance.
Lithium-ion batteries fueled the fire of the Felicity Ace that was carrying the Volkswagen Group cars
Felicity Ace was promptly rescued by the Portuguese Navy and Air Force after launching the SOS. The merchant, owned by the Japanese Mitsui OSK Lines, was en route to the US port of Davisville, Rhode Island, after departing from Emden, Germany. According to Reuters, the operations to extinguish the fire are proceeding slowly, as stated by João Mendes Cabeças, captain of the nearby port of the island of Faial, in the Azores to the news agency “the intervention must be done very slowly and it will take some time”. The reason for all this, secondo heads it is attributable to the lithium-ion batteries in the Volkswagen Group electric cars stowed in the Felicity Acewho appear to be “keeping the fire alive,” adding that specialized equipment was on the way to extinguish it.
American customers, who were waiting for their vehicle trapped in flames on this freighter, were informed by their dealer of the incident.
The Panamanian-flagged vessel will be towed to a European country or the Bahamas, but it is unclear when this will happen.