Firefighters struggling to extinguish burning ship carrying Porsches

The cargo ship loaded with over 1,000 Porsches that caught fire last week is still burning as firefighters are struggling to extinguish the fire. The burning ship is said to be adrift off the coast of Portugal’s Azores islands. 

The Felicity Ace cargo ship is carrying about 4,000 vehicles [Photo: Portuguese Navy]

The Felicity Ace ship is reportedly carrying about 4,000 vehicles including Porsches, Bentleys, Audis, and Volkswagens (some are electric cars with lithium-ion batteries). In our previous report, an internal Volkswagen Group email stated that there are 1,100 Porsches and 189 Bentleys aboard the burning cargo ship.  

According to Reuters, firefighters are struggling to put out the fire that broke out in the Felicity Ace cargo ship. A port official said that “it will take a while” to extinguish the fire, and wasn't able to give a timeline as to when the fire will be completely doused.  

"The intervention (to put out the blaze) has to be done very slowly…It will take a while,” port official João Mendes Cabeças told Reuters. 

Cabeças added that the lithium-ion batteries found in the electric vehicles could be “keeping the fire alive.” The port official explained that traditional water extinguishers are not designed to put out a fire from burning lithium-ion batteries. Firefighters cannot also use water to extinguish the ship as added weight could make the vessel unstable.

Firefighters are struggling to put out the fire [Photo: Portuguese Navy]

MOL Shipmanagement Singapore, managers of the car carrier Felicity Ace, said in a statement that two large tugs with firefighting equipment have been sent to the scene last February 20. A second tug is also scheduled to arrive by February 21, and an additional salvage craft with firefighting equipment is also set to arrive by February 23 or 24.   

MOL Shipmanagement Singapore added that there is currently no oil leakage confirmed from the vessel, and it remains stable as of this writing.

Departing from the German port of Emden on February 10, the ship was on its way to deliver the vehicles to North America. It was scheduled to arrive at Davisville, Rhode Island on the morning of February 23. The 22 crew members of the Felicity Ace have been safely evacuated to other vessels.

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