Many VW models are delivered worldwide on container ships.
(Photo: dpa)
Lisbon The “Felicity Ace”, a huge container ship flying the Panama flag and loaded with thousands of Volkswagen Group vehicles, caught fire near the Azores in the Atlantic on Wednesday afternoon and is now adrift without a driver.
All 22 crew members were successfully evacuated and taken to a hotel in the Portuguese archipelago by the Portuguese Navy and Air Force, the Navy said in a statement. The team did not require medical treatment, it said.
An internal e-mail from Volkswagen USA reveals that there are 3,965 vehicles from the Wolfsburg-based group on board the VW, Porsche, Audi and Lamborghini brands. A Porsche spokesman estimates that there are around 1100 Porsches on board. Affected customers would be contacted by their dealers. “First and foremost, we are relieved that the 22 crew members are doing well,” he says.
It’s not the first time VW has lost cars at sea. When the “Grande America” caught fire and sank in 2019, over 2000 vehicles, including Audis and Porsches, went down with her.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
Some buyers expressed their disappointment on social media. For example, one Twitter user reported that his custom Porsche Boxster Spyder was in the cargo.
About the size of three football fields, the Felicity Ace was en route to the port of Davisville, Rhode Island, when a distress signal was issued due to a fire on one of the cargo decks. The ship is now to be towed.
More: Agreement in the dispute over “Ever Given” in the Suez Canal – incident could repeat itself