A fire on the Felicity Ace car carrier off Azores Islands could cause at least $155 million in expected losses for Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi and Lamborghini vehicles on board the vessel, according to analysis by risk modelling company Russell.
According to the analysis, the total value of goods on the ship is estimated to be $438 million and of that, around $401 million was for cars and goods vehicles.
Now, German media reported an internal email from Volkswagen U.S., showing that the ship was carrying 3,965 vehicles of the VW, Porsche, Audi, and Lamborghini brands. Porsche confirmed that 1,100 of their cars were on board the ship.
Suki Basi, Russell Group’s managing director, stated:
The incident comes at a bad time for global carmakers who are in the middle of a supply chain crisis sourcing semiconductors, resulting in new delays for new cars. An event like this will not do a great deal in instilling trust with consumers
The Panama-flagged ship caught fire last week while on its way from Emden, Germany to Rhode Island, US. It is now drifting, with MOL informing that all of the crewmembers were evacuated safely.
While it is not clear if the lithium-ion batteries first caused the fire, they have later been ignited and the fire needs specialist equipment to tackle the fire, according to a local port official speaking to Reuters, noting that “the battery packs are keeping the fire alive”.
Currently, two large tugs with firefighting equipment are on site while the arrival of an additional salvage craft with firefighting equipment has been delayed to 26 February.
