Lots of people will not be getting their cars on time.

U.S.-Bound Ship Carrying 1,100 Porsches, 189 Bentleys Ablaze in Atlantic as 22 Crew Members Rescued

114NICK GILBERTSON18 Feb 2022331
2:49A ship transporting about 4000 vehicles – including roughly 1,100 Porches and 189 Bentleys – across the Atlantic to the U.S. has been abandoned at sea and left ablaze.

The fire broke out Wednesday while the 650-foot vessel, the Felicity Ace, was off the coast of the Azores archipelago in the mid-Atlantic, the Associated Press reports.

Captain Joao Mendes Cabeças of the port of Hortas told Reuters that special equipment is needed to extinguish the blaze as lithium-ion car batteries in electric cars on board have caught fire. It is unclear whether the batteries caused the fire or if they were lit ablaze after something else caught fire, Cabeças said. It will either be towed to the Bahamas or a European country.

A spokesperson for the Portuguese Navy said 22 crew members were aboard during the fire, and all were successfully evacuated without injury, per Reuters.

“The ship is burning from one end to the other… everything is on fire about five meters above the water line,” said Cabeças.
The Felicity Ace car carrier on fire approximately 90 miles from the island of Faial, Azores, on Feb 17, 2022. (Portuguese Navy)

He told Reuters that towboats from the Netherlands and Gibraltar are en route to the scene, three of which are expected to arrive by Wednesday. Cabeças added that the Felicity Ace could not be towed to the Azores as it would halt trade at the port due to its massive size.

Smit Salvage, owned by Boskalis – a Dutch marine engineer company- has sent a 16 person salvage team to the scene to help manage the blaze, according to Reuters.

The outlet reports the ship carrying 4,000 vehicles departed from Germany and was bound for Rhode Island:
The Panama-flagged ship, owned by Snowscape Car Carriers SA and managed by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd, was travelling from Emden, Germany – where Volkswagen has a factory – to Davisville in the United States, based on the Maritime Traffic website.

[…]

Around 1,100 Porsches and 189 Bentleys were on board, spokespeople for the car brands said. Audi, another Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) brand, confirmed some of its vehicles were also on the ship but did not state how many.
Volkswagon did not specify how many of its vehicles were onboard and stated it was waiting for additional information.

Youtuber Matt Farah, co-host of the Smoking Tire YouTube channel, that he a Porsche “Boxster Spyder with Deman 4.5 motor and shorty gears” on board.

 

First world problems.

 

In this case reading 'crew rescued' gives me mixed feelings.

 

I sincerely hope you are kidding: better the crew being rescued than the cars.

What will be interesting to learn is whether the batteries were the cause of the fire and if not, once the fire was started, did the batteries enlarge the fire?

From experience with Tesla either catching on fire or in an accident and then catching on fire, it takes special equipment to put out lithium batteries.

This was a similar problem with the the original Boeing Dreamliners and the the lithium batteries catching fire.

see: https://www.nbcnews.com/business/tra...-flna1b7832998

 

 

MB forum why would we be discussing others. Great that some members have others, should be on those forums.

 

Latest reports say that the cars aboard the Felicity Ace are owned by the "Volkswagen Group." https://www.providencejournal.com/st...nd/6860627001/

I guessing that the ship is not exclusively Volkswagen Group, but might have some Mercedes-Benz vehicles on that ship as well. Only 1,400 highlighted brands among the 4,000 aboard.

I don't follow Porsche and Bentley tech, but I suspect the Lithium batteries on fire are NOT in those vehicles. Maybe the VW and Audi vehicles.

 

I am pretty sure if there were Mercedes on the ship that would have also been mentioned a long time ago. Nothing against any other manufacturer because I have had others over the years. Just in my opinion should be on those forums

 

Likely because most of us are “ car folks.”

 

I am pretty sure of that and so am I. It’s not a general car forum, not even a general Mercedes-Benz forum. It’s specifically to W213 not even W212 😆

 

Thing is, this is an off topic thread, meant for humor most likely. These aren't disruptive in any way. What is disruptive is posters who derail threads.

This can happen in a number of ways: Prolific posters who just have to post regardless if it's nonsense (lots of these folks: check post count). Know-it-alls: ( heck it's a guys forum), and then there's others, like.....

 

Expensive car folks, watching an expensive car barbecue.

 

and being glad mines on a different ship

 

Say what you may, fact still remains it’s a MB W213 forum an not an open forum. I’m a guy who loves cars just as any other. One thing has nothing to do with the other so your attempts for disrespect doesn’t change that fact. Thank you

 

Who is the insurance company? Big claim.

 

The ship has now sunk... https://www.npr.org/2022/03/01/10837...rgo-ship-sinks

 

“ plays taps”

 

R.I.P.

Davy Jones.

 

No Benzes ....just VW Group vehicles. Remaining 2,600 vehicles were Audi, VW, and Skoda - SEAT's (For Mexican market, last stop on that route). Article also failed to mention there were a few Lambos on board and possibly a Bugatti

 

R.I.P. Rhode Island Porsches

 

It’s been confirmed no Bugattis were on board, however there were several dozen Lambos including Urus, Huracans, and some ultra rare Aventadors. What a shame.

I feel for those folks who waited months for their builds to finally arrive only to see them go up in flames. But then you see what’s happening to Ukrainian civilians, and you come to realize these are just first world problems. I’m really glad all 22 crew members were rescued alive.

 

One of the owner of a local dealership was complaining about his Bentley burning on board. Hard to feel bad for someone that rich and sold his father’s chain of dealership so he could play music.