Cargo ship carrying cars to U.S. catches fire, is adrift in mid-Atlantic without crew
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
LISBON, Portugal — A burning car transport ship drifted in the mid-Atlantic on Thursday after the huge vessel's 22 crew members were evacuated due to the blaze, the Portuguese navy said.
Shipping in the area was warned that the 650-feet-long Felicity Ace was adrift near Portugal's Azores Islands after the crew were taken off on Wednesday, Portuguese navy spokesman Cmdr. Jose Sousa Luis said.
The Felicity Ace can carry more than 18,700 tons of cargo. Typically, car transport ships fit thousands of vehicles on multiple decks in their hold.
The Felicity Ace car carrier on fire approximately 90 miles from the island of Faial, Azores, on Feb 17, 2022.Marinha Portuguesa
Volkswagen Group said in a brief statement the Felicity Ace was transporting to the U.S. vehicles that the German automaker produced. The company declined to comment on what consequences the incident might have for U.S. customers or the VW Group.
The ship's operator, Japan's Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, said in an email to the AP it could not provide information about the cargo.
A Portuguese navy ship sailed to the vehicle transporter, which was sailing from Emden in Germany to the port of Davisville in the U.S. state of Rhode Island, according to online vessel trackers. A navy statement said the fire was still burning and showed a photograph of large clouds of white smoke billowing out.
The navy ship was to check whether the cargo vessel was in danger of sinking or causing pollution, Sousa Luis told The Associated Press.
The ship's owner is seeking an ocean-going tug, but the Felicity Ace is unlikely to be towed to a port in Portugal's Azores Islands because of its size, Sousa Luis said.
The crew were taken by helicopter on Wednesday to Faial island on the archipelago, about 100 miles away, and are staying at a hotel there. None of them was hurt.
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More bad luck, just when the chip shortage and the cross-border car parts tie-up create long long waits for people to get delivery of a new car; It's going to start to look like Cuba with nothing but classic cars on the streets.
I wish ! All the cars have been shaped so similarly for the last 25 years it's had to tell their age. In the past you could tell the make and model a half mile away. Today you have to get within 40 feet to tell the make and you can't tell the model without reading it, each manufacturer seems to make the same car in 3-4 size increments.
And they're all fucking ugly...styling has gone out of fashion.
The funny thing is that I think my father's 1952 Hudson Hornet was a precursor of the cars of today.
But my dream car had style, it had class - a 1959 Jaguar Mark IX. Everything has to be aerodynamic today.
Even the most run of the mill cars from back then are gorgeous compared to cars today. I miss chrome bumpers so much, also vent windows.
My first car was a 2 year old second hand 1950 Ford Custom Coach - manual stick shift mounted on the steering column, windows you had to crank, a bench front seat you had to manually adjust back and forth (only), heater but no air conditioning, 5 manual push button A.M. radio, no chips, no electronics, don't remember if it had directional signals, and it was a SKILL to drive WITHOUT GPS, buzzers that go off when you're too close to anything, no power brakes, no power steering, you had to balance your coffee on the dashboard because no cup holders, no digital dashboard, nothing to tell you your gas was low except keeping your eye on the needle, and damn it all, I was a 16 year old king of the road with my own car - what I would give to have that car back today rather than a new one.
in favor of aerodynamics and mileage.
oh, the horrors!
Screw the crew......Save the Porches!
LOL
Most of those cars were kept in top running condition because they had to be. Now that Cuba is allowing the sale of new cars, the owners of the old cars will be selling a lot of them for big bucks to collectors.
The worse thing you can hear when your at sea, is ''Fire''.
Glad to hear the crew is okay. How long will this thing drift until the tug makes it out there and how does the drift direction compare to the shipping lanes?
According to the article, the ship was 90 miles from the Azores. If there is an ocean-going tug (or two or three) they could be there in short order. Also according to the article, the ports in the Azores could not handle it so it would have to be towed to the nearest port that could handle that size vessel which would probably be in Portugal.
I'd say it would take a day or two to get it going in the right direction and then several days to get it where it needs to be depending on weather AND the fire conditions. At least the tug crew doesn't need to run lines to that hulking monstrosity.
Auto carriers have been having a tough time of late. The one that capsized in GA was a mess for a couple of years before they salvaged it.
I've also heard that the Pacific cargo carriers are having a record year already on the amount of containers lost at sea.
2020 and 2021 were the highest for containers lost at sea in decades and 2022 is off to a bad start as well.
Anthropogenic global warming affects the oceans before the atmosphere.
The oceans have been sequestering our heat and pollution for decades.
More heat in large bodies of water means more and stronger storms.
Sailor beware!
They say that there's 'bout 4,000 vehicles on board - most of them luxury, like Porsha's, BMW's, etc.. Hell, if they'd give me one of those, I'd drag my fire fighting gear outta the footlocker.
I think they would have several hundred people offering to help put out the fire if a free high end car was the reward.
I was wondering since they abandoned ship if someone could claim it as salvage.
dear customer,
due to a minor shipping issue, the new porsche you ordered last year, will be delivered next year.
Even if they manage to salvage a few thousand cars
they are going to smell like shit until the entire interior interior is replaced.
They will be cut apart for the body parts, drivetrains for the future
the interiors and dashes will be scrapped/