Everyone’s favourite cargo ship (like you can name another), The Felicity Ace, has sunk.
And down with it went the thousands of burnt Volkswagen cars, including Porsches, EVs and Lamborghini Aventadors.
It had been two weeks since the ship caught fire while on its voyage from Germany to Rhode Island, USA.
The fire raged on for several days. The lithium-ion batteries from the EVs kept fuelling the blaze, plus fire crews couldn’t use water cannons for the risk of tipping the ship over.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
In any case, the fire was eventually extinguished, and Felicity Ace began its tow back to the nearest port.
However, weather conditions took a turn for the worse. The vessel was already listing on a 45-degree angle starboard (to the right).
A spokesperson for MOL Ship Management put it bluntly: “The weather was pretty rough out there. Then she sank.”
Felicity Ace went down roughly 220 miles off the Azores coast. The depth of the ocean at that point is about 3,000 metres.
All 22 crew members were evacuated when the fire first broke out.
As for the awaiting owners of their new Porsche or Lambo, dealers and suppliers are reportedly organising replacement options.
It’s a little harder for those who had ordered an Aventador, given that those are no longer in production. CEO of Lamborghini Americas said he will begin discussions with suppliers about potentially restarting assembly.
It’s estimated $500 million worth of cars were on the ship.
That’s one expensive aquarium.
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