Volkswagen Team claims the a lot of of the 4,000 autos from its numerous makes aboard the Felicity Ace are a whole reduction simply because of a fire on board that pressured the crew to abandon the container ship in the Atlantic Ocean final 7 days.
“We concern that the hearth on the ship has destroyed a large range of the virtually 4,000 Team-manufacturer autos to this sort of an extent that they can no longer be shipped to customers,” the company claimed in release despatched to Automotive Information Europe Friday. “More detailed details is not nonetheless offered.”
The ship was carrying 3,965 autos from the VW, Porsche, Audi, Lamborghini and Bentley makes destined for the U.S. marketplace.
The hearth could price tag VW Group $155 million, according to 1 consultant’s estimate
VW Group models and sellers have already started informing their consumers to obtain methods. The damage to the cars is lined by insurance, VW stated.
The Panama-registered Felicity Ace caught fire on February 16 and was described adrift a lot more than 1,000 miles off the coast of Portugal. The 22 crew associates on board have been evacuated the exact working day.
Tough seas and the fireplace delayed the salvage procedure, whilst significant tugboats sprayed drinking water to amazing the vessel,
Some of the Volkswagen Group motor vehicles on board ended up electrical. Their lithium-ion batteries built the fireplace incredibly difficult to extinguish, port officers experienced stated.
By February 21, the fireplace died down on a ship, as it ran out of factors to burn. A salvage staff was then equipped to board the vessel.
Of the roughly $438 million total benefit of goods aboard the Felicity Ace, Russell Team approximated there are $401 million well worth of cars and trucks, Bloomberg claimed this week.
“Volkswagen is incredibly relieved that, in accordance to studies from the ship-proudly owning business, no individuals have been harmed in the fireplace and no oil spills were being noticed,” the company’s statement stated. “The ship-owning organization now experiences that there is no additional smoke visible on the ship, a salvage workforce has now boarded the ship and tugs are towing the ship absent.”
At least eight big incidents involving significant boats and weakened cars and trucks have transpired considering the fact that 2002.
In 2019, the Grande The us destined for Brazil sank with 37 Porsches aboard, such as four unusual, hugely tailored 911 GT2 RS (ordinary price ranges nowadays: $366,487, nevertheless specialised ones can technique $800,000).
