The 22 crew members of the car carrier Felicity Ace have been rescued after the ship caught fire Wednesday near the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean.
The 17-year-old ship, owned by Mitsui OSK Lines and sailing under the Panama flag, was en route to the Port of Davisville in Rhode Island. It had departed from Emden, Germany, on Feb. 10. It was about 90 nautical miles southwest of the island of Faial in the Azores.
The Portuguese navy and several merchant marine ships were involved in the rescue. The crew was transported to the Resilient Warrior, a tanker ship operated by Polembros Shipping.
The ship caught fire in the cargo hold, according to a statement from the navy.
While currently adrift, the ship is expected to be towed to as-yet unannounced location by the ship’s owners.
The ship was carrying a heavy load of Porsches and Volkswagen vehicles. It can carry a maximize amount of 4,000 cars.
Automotive news outlet The Drive said it received a statement from Porsche that read: “Our immediate thoughts are of the 22 crew of the merchant ship ‘Felicity Ace,’ all of whom we understand are safe and well as a result of their rescue by the Portuguese Navy following reports of a fire on board. …
“We believe a number of our cars are among the cargo on board the ship. No further details of the specific cars affected are available at this time – we are in close contact with the shipping company and will share more information in due course.”
“While it remains too early to confirm what occurred and next steps, we are — along with our colleagues at Porsche AG — supporting our customers and our dealers as best we can to find solutions,” Angus Fitton, vice president of PR at Porsche Cars North America, told CNN. “We are in contact with the shipping company and the details of the cars on board are now known.”
Volkswagen also issued a statement.
“We are aware of an incident involving a third-party cargo ship transporting Volkswagen Group vehicles across the Atlantic. The vessel was on its way to North America,” VW spokesperson Dirk Amee told CNN. “At this time, we are not aware of any injuries. We are in contact with the shipping company to get more information about the incident.”