Ship with 1100 VW, Porsche and Bentley Cars electric cars burst into flames

Felicity Ace, a 60,000-ton ship ablaze in the Atlantic Ocean caught fire near the coast of the Azores that carrying thousands (1100) of Porsche, Bentley and Volkswagen vehicles to U.S. dealers, burst into flames WSJ reported.

The 22 member crew was rescued by the Portuguese Navy:

NRP Setúbal continues its mission in the Azores Maritime Zone. The Navy’s ocean patrol accompanies the ship “Felicity Ace”, where a fire has started since Wednesday. The crew were all safely evacuated. We are at sea 365 days, 24 hours a day.

“It will be months before we have completed an investigation and know what happened,” said a spokesman for MOL Ship Management (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., which owns the company operating the Felicity Ace. The Felicity Ace left Emden, Germany, on Feb. 10 and was scheduled to arrive in Davisville, R.I., on Feb. 23. A fire broke out in the ship’s cargo hold on Wednesday morning, forcing the evacuation of the crew, MOL said. With the help of commercial ships in the area and a Portuguese navy helicopter, all 22 crew members were rescued uninjured and flown to the Azores, MOL added.

Around 1100 Porsche vehicles, 189 Bentley vehicles, and approximately 100 Volkswagen Golf R, GTI, Arteon, and ID.4vehicles were on the ship according to reports from Automotive Newsand Bloomberg.

UPDATE From Caranddriver 18 Feb. A Porsche Cars North America spokesperson sent Car and Driver the following statement: “Our immediate thoughts are of relief that the 22 crew of the merchant ship Felicity Ace are safe and well. A number of our cars are among the cargo. We are in contact with the shipping company and the details of the cars on board are now known. Customers affected by the incident are being contacted by their dealer. While it remains too early to confirm what occurred and next steps, we are—along with our colleagues at Porsche AG—supporting our customers and our dealers as best we can to find solutions. Anyone concerned by this incident and the implications on the car they’ve ordered should maintain in contact with [the] dealer with which their order was placed.”

A spokesperson for Lamborghini told C/D that the company is “aware of an incident involving a third-party cargo ship transporting Volkswagen Group vehicles across the Atlantic. The vessel was on its way to North America. At this time, we are not aware of any injuries. We are in contact with the shipping company to get more information about the incident.”

As of 21 February, rescue fire teams were attempting to quell the flames and preventing the Vessel from floating a drift