The car transport ship Felicity Ace is on fire in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Portugal, according to reports from that country’s navy.
A car-carrier vessel carrying a significant load of Volkswagen and Porsche vehicles, the crew of the Felicity Ace have reportedly abandoned ship after a fire broke out aboard.
The Felicity Ace was carrying Volkswagen and Porsche models to the United States
Porsche dealers this morning had contacted a number of customers in the United States to advise them that their vehicles, en route from Germany, had been lost.
A spokesperson for Porsche Cars Australia confirmed with Chasing Cars that no Australian-bound Porsche models were aboard the Felicity Ace.
Soon after, a spokesperson for Volkswagen Group Australia – the distributor of Audi, Volkswagen, Cupra and Skoda models in Australia – said there were no Australian customer cars on the stricken vessel.
Pictured: the stricken Felicity Ace
The cause of the fire is currently unknown, as is the current state of the ship. The last update from the Portuguese Navy included a photograph of the car-carrier on fire but still on the surface.
Catastrophes involving car-carrier ships occur a few times per decade on average, with the most recent significant losses being the MV Modern Express in 2016 and the listing of the Range Rover-carrier Hoegh Osaka in 2015.
We’ll update this story if and when additional news is forthcoming.
