A ship loaded with luxury cars was adrift in the Atlantic Ocean, southwest of the Azores archipelago, Portuguese territory, a 2h30 flight from Lisbon. The vessel caught fire and was abandoned by the crew, consisting of 22 people.
Registered in Panama and operated by a Japanese company, the Felicity Ace, a vessel of about 200 meters in length, carried almost 4,000 cars from Porsche and other brands of the Volkswagen Group from the city of Emden, in Germany, to Davisville, in the US state. from Rhode Island.
The fire, of unknown causes, spread through the ship, reaching the cargo area.
The Portuguese Navy received alerts and said, in a statement, that it had rescued the entire crew, who were taken first to an oil tanker that diverted its course to help with the operation, and then to a local hotel. The note also says that the fire on board continues and that a patrol is monitoring the abandoned ship, until a plan is drawn up to take it to a port.
Porsche confirmed that Porsche cars were on the vessel and said that customers who had already purchased the transported cars would be contacted by the sellers. “We are in contact with the shipping company and the details of the cars on board are already known,” said Angus Fitton, Porsche’s vice president of public relations for North America.
“We are aware of the incident involving the third-party cargo ship transporting Volkswagen Group vehicles across the Atlantic. At this time, we have no reports of injuries and we are already in contact with the shipping company for further information,” a spokesperson said. -voice of the Volkswagen Group.
