Mitsui OSK Lines says salvage services are set to reach its car carrier — drifting dangerously in the Atlantic without a crew — today.
The 6,400-ceu Felicity Ace (built 2005) is south of the Azores with about 4,000 vehicles on board.
The cargo includes 1,100 Porsches and 189 Bentleys, spokespeople for the car brands told Reuters. Audi, another Volkswagen brand, confirmed that some of its vehicles were also on the ship but did not reveal how many.
The crew were earlier forced to abandon the ship and are all safely ashore.
The race is now on to save the vessel and its cargo, and put out the fire.
An initial salvage team will reach the Felicity Ace on 18 February, and additional salvage and firefighting services on their way.
Lithium-ion batteries in the electric cars on board have caught fire and the blaze requires specialist equipment to extinguish, Captain Joao Mendes Cabecas of the Port of Hortas said.
It was not clear whether the batteries first sparked the fire. “The ship is burning from one end to the other ... everything is on fire about five metres above the water line,” Cabecas told Reuters.
The Panama-flag ship was travelling from Emden, Germany — where Volkswagen has a factory — to Davisville, Rhode Island, based on data from MaritimeTraffic.
Through the Ponta Delgada Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, a Portuguese Navy warship has been standing by to monitor the drift of the Felicity Ace.
MOL thanked the navy, the local authorities in the Azores “and those vessels that supported the rescue operation of the crew members in the best traditions of the merchant marine”.
Hull, cargo and protection and indemnity insurers are likely to face a big claim from the incident. The hull has a value of about $30m and the cargo of luxury high-value cars could be worth in excess of $100m. Salvage costs will also be part of the final claim.
Much of the bill could land on P&I insurers if the fire is determined to be a shipowner liability. The vessel’s P&I cover is placed with Britannia P&I, but claims costs in excess of $10m will be met through the International Group of P&I Clubs.
