A cargo ship Felicity Ace reportedly carrying 4,000 luxury cars of different brands has sunk in the Atlantic Ocean. On February 16, 2022, Felicity Ace started her journey from Germany to the USA when suddenly a fire broke out on the ship. The crew of the ship was forced to abandon the ship to protect themselves from the fire.
It has been confirmed that nearly 4,000 automobiles from various Volkswagen Group brands were on board on the Felicity Ace. Moreover, a number of the vehicles, notably Volkswagen and Audi models, were electric, which could have made the fire harder to control and fires caused by lithium-ion batteries are especially hard to put out.
The ship sank about 9 a.m., 253 miles from the coast of the Azores, Portugal, according to the ship's operator. The whole staff of the ship was successfully evacuated, according to the Portuguese Navy, and no medical assistance was required.
Furthermore, Aventador models were among the Lamborghini cars on the ship. Lamborghini's V12-powered Aventador is the company's most costly regular production vehicle, costing more than $400,000. Each year, fewer than 800 units are produced, and this is the model's final year. Because each car is carefully customized and buyers already wait months for their cars, Lamborghini of America CEO Andrea Baldi disclosed.
The majority of the Lamborghinis on board were Urus SUVs and Huracán supercars, which were less pricey. The total damage costs for all the vehicles have been valued at about $335 million. VW has disclosed that the loss would be covered by insurance. Additionally, it has not been confirmed yet the main source of the fire. But captain Joao Mendes Cabecas of the port of Hortas stated that the lithium-ion batteries in EVs aboard the ship caught fire.
According to a report submitted by the recovery team to MOL Ship Management of Singapore, which manages the Panama-flagged ship, the largely scorched-out ship was being hauled back to a secure port when it sank yesterday. A Volkswagen Group representative acknowledged that the carmaker is informed of the ship's loss.