It's not exactly big boat stuck, but...

February 19, 2022 6:31 AM

A cargo ship full of luxury automobiles is adrift in the ocean. Also it's on fire.

The Felicity Ace is very far from the Suez Canal, which is good news for shipping and bad news for meme makers.

posted by Tehhund (74 comments total)

If anyone has a large seaworthy vessel we can use for a few days, HMU.
posted by Tehhund at 6:32 AM on February 19, 2022 [5 favorites]

I've got a small freighter, but alas, all my ports to the ocean are frozen hard as a carp.
posted by valkane at 6:46 AM on February 19, 2022 [4 favorites]

Adrift and on fire neatly encapsulates the last couple of years. Such a physical metaphor I've never seen. That it's cars on fire is just *chef's kiss*.
posted by wierdo at 6:47 AM on February 19, 2022 [69 favorites]

I see that The Writers aren’t even trying to make their metaphors subtle in 2022, huh?

Pour one out for the Porsche-less.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 7:00 AM on February 19, 2022 [20 favorites]

It's a metaphor, innit?
posted by theora55 at 7:06 AM on February 19, 2022 [7 favorites]

A primer on salvage law, if anyone is interested.
posted by Cash4Lead at 7:14 AM on February 19, 2022 [11 favorites]

and bad news for meme makers.

there's never been a better/worse shipwreck for meme makers than The Herald of Free Enterprise

It's a metaphor, innit?
posted by philip-random at 7:36 AM on February 19, 2022 [6 favorites]

As much as I feel a sense of glee at the destruction of such ridiculous symbols of wealth and excess, I'm stuck wondering just how much of whatever toxic shit that boat contains is going to end up in the ocean, which, of course, is just a drop in the giant bucket of shit we've already dumped there.

Also, I am no fun at (salvage) parties.
posted by Ghidorah at 7:37 AM on February 19, 2022 [29 favorites]

You love to see it.

Ok maybe not really, because burning ships adrift are probably not great for the environment. Then again, non-burning ships are kind of an ongoing disaster, and then there’s the cars, you know, over a lifetime… this still probably worse, though.

But like, as symbol, you love to see it.
posted by rodlymight at 7:39 AM on February 19, 2022 [9 favorites]

In Memoriam license plate: LOSTATC
posted by inflatablekiwi at 7:40 AM on February 19, 2022 [15 favorites]

the cars (are) on fire
and there's no captain at the helm

posted by VeritableSaintOfBrevity at 7:41 AM on February 19, 2022 [10 favorites]

How did the fire start? All those batteries?
posted by Melismata at 7:43 AM on February 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

If someone salvages that, there are going to be a lot of slightly charred Porsches appearing on the market (“good as new, never mind the slight burnt smell around the upholstery”), sort of in the way that every cryptocurrency price crash leads to a flood of slightly charred “lightly used” high-end graphics cards.
posted by acb at 7:45 AM on February 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

And one might think that putting out the fire might be worth a thought.
posted by emmet at 7:46 AM on February 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

I hired this guy in a bar, I told him to go to my house and paint my porch. He came back later and said “That wasn’t a Porsche, it was a Maserati!"
posted by valkane at 7:49 AM on February 19, 2022 [25 favorites]

Cause of the fire will be unknown for a while but it's been confirmed that electric vehicles were on board. The captain has said it will be a hard fire to extinguish because of the lithium-ion batteries in the hold.
posted by JoeZydeco at 7:53 AM on February 19, 2022 [3 favorites]

Ship fires are bad, because the old paint is burning hot and fast, and the paint is often very thick to combat rust. In the Navy they learn two things, how to paint all day, and how to put out fires. (I was never in the Navy though).
posted by Brian B. at 7:53 AM on February 19, 2022 [4 favorites]

Interesting trailer for the next Fast and Furious movie.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:57 AM on February 19, 2022 [9 favorites]

We are living in something of a renaissance, if not a golden age, of large cargo boat disasters, and I think we should all recognize that
posted by clockzero at 8:23 AM on February 19, 2022 [36 favorites]

Now, if we can just get some crypto-bros to try seasteading that….
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:25 AM on February 19, 2022 [5 favorites]

Betch'a could get some good dogecoin for burning Porsche NFT's.
posted by sammyo at 8:38 AM on February 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

A few more pictures.
posted by bonehead at 8:54 AM on February 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

Betch'a could get some good dogecoin for burning Porsche NFT's.

This has more of a KLF feel to it.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 8:57 AM on February 19, 2022 [6 favorites]

Terry Allen has a song for the moment: "Truckload of Art."

Sample chorus:
A Truckload of Art
From New York City
Came rollin down the road
Yeah the driver was singing
And the sunset was pretty
But the truck turned over
And she rolled off the road
Yeah a Truckload of Art
Is burning near the highway
Precious objects are scattered
All over the ground
And it's a terrible sight
If a person were to see it
But there weren't nobody around
posted by spitbull at 8:59 AM on February 19, 2022 [8 favorites]

How much industrial poison will go into the ocean with this disaster?
posted by shoesietart at 9:04 AM on February 19, 2022 [3 favorites]

Wired did a story on the salvage effort for the Cougar Ace, a cargo ship carrying over 4,000 Mazda vehicles that was in danger of sinking after a loss of stability in 2006. The ship made it back to port, as did most of the cars, but Mazda ended up scrapping every vehicle after earlier deciding they would not be sold as new vehicles.

The Cougar Ace itself apparently sailed on until it was scrapped in 2020 (according to this PDF newsletter about scrapped ships that I had no idea existed until today, page 36).
posted by chrominance at 9:11 AM on February 19, 2022 [11 favorites]

"if they ever come up with a swashbuckling school, I think one of the courses should be laughing, then jumping off something."

-Jack Handy
posted by clavdivs at 9:13 AM on February 19, 2022 [24 favorites]

I'll offer sincere concern for the environmental impact, but otherwise, thoughts and prayers.
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:43 AM on February 19, 2022 [3 favorites]

How much industrial poison will go into the ocean with this disaster?

A boatload.
posted by Tehhund at 9:59 AM on February 19, 2022 [35 favorites]

Well, this delights me
posted by Going To Maine at 10:04 AM on February 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

the car is on fire
posted by dobi at 10:10 AM on February 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

I have burned
the cars
that were in
the ship

and which
you were probably
saving
for driving

Forgive me
they were expensive
so shiny
and so new
posted by Splunge at 10:26 AM on February 19, 2022 [30 favorites]

It's in the middle of the Atlantic, drifting rudderless, deserted by its officers, full of Porsches and Lamborghinis ... and it's on fire.

That is one on the nose Brexit metaphor, am I right?
posted by cstross at 10:41 AM on February 19, 2022 [32 favorites]

transporting freight by sea is usually quite energy efficient, comparable to rail, perhaps 10x more efficient than transport by road and 16x more efficient than by air.

this energy efficiency may suffer a hit in cases where the cargo and vessel catch fire en route -- maybe to calculate the transport energy efficiency in this case you'd need to estimate the energy expended getting the mess under control, then account for the energy spent repairing or manufacturing a new ship and a new load of cargo.
posted by are-coral-made at 10:45 AM on February 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

Not directly related to this ship, but please enjoy this Web 1.0 photo gallery of cargo losses, including Failboats and capsized cruise ships.
posted by workerant at 10:56 AM on February 19, 2022 [4 favorites]

Oh No, Anyway dot gif.

Seriously though, a burning boat full of cars can't be good for the ocean. I'm glad the crew got out OK, that's the most important part in my mind. The rest of it - if you can afford to buy a Maserati, you can probably afford to eat shit once in a while, same as the rest of us.
posted by mrgoat at 11:04 AM on February 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

Considering how big the ocean is and how many other horrible things have been dumped in it in the last 10 years, it’s not great but no where near the top 1000 bad things. Also as long as it doesn’t sink most of it isn’t going into the ocean.
posted by jmauro at 11:50 AM on February 19, 2022 [3 favorites]

Fire suppression systems are containing the fire, in accordance to the international law of stuff, the ship will be brought back to Base Naval de Lisboa. All crew will be tended and all cargo will be inspected to measure the environmental impact on the high seas and Autoestrada.

Sincerely,
The Portuguese Navy.
posted by clavdivs at 12:17 PM on February 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

That shipbreaking newsletter linked by chrominance is fascinating.

Apparently cargo ships sold for demolition go for around US $300 / ton, +/- 10% say. Whereas cruise ships sold for demolition go for around US $150 / ton. Can anyone explain the large difference in the demolition value? Apparently the scrap steel price is a major factor -- I guess perhaps cruise ships might contain a larger proportion by mass of material with lower scrap value.
posted by are-coral-made at 12:17 PM on February 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

A container ship is almost all steel, while the cruise ship is full of all kinds of other stuff. So not only is there less steel and hence less value, there is all kinds of other stuff that you have to get rid of, which takes much more labour.
posted by ssg at 12:30 PM on February 19, 2022 [5 favorites]

Also, in this case the $150 was the price paid by shipbreaking yards in Turkey, which pay less than those in India and Pakistan. EU-registered ships have to be recycled in approved yards with some minimal environmental and worker protection standards, so they are more expensive to take apart and thus less valuable.

Here's an article suggesting the scrap price difference for cruise ships versus cargo ships is only $25-50 per tonne in India.
posted by ssg at 12:50 PM on February 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

Memes aside, lithium ion batteries are highly toxic, if they do get into the ocean the reaction will spread harmful toxins over a very large area.
posted by Lanark at 12:53 PM on February 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

Re-learning how to extinguish car fires is going to be a major problem as more and more electric vehicles make their way on to the roads. I can't imagine potentially thousands of them going up all at once in a confined space.

I would not be surprised if the marine freight guild (whoever they are) adopt rules about carrying electric car batteries, much the same way IATA (air freight) put rules on carrying lithium ion batteries on planes. There are big risks to these kinds of batteries - undetected latent defects can cause "spontaneous" fires long after the battery is manufactured, and once a fire starts it's very difficult to extinguish and keep extinguished. Modern firefighting systems that displace oxygen (like Halon) are ineffective against battery fires because they don't do anything about the runaway thermal process happening, but it also can take hundreds of thousands of gallons of water to definitively knock down a fire once it's going. Not sure flooding the cargo deck on a ship like this is a viable option.
posted by backseatpilot at 12:54 PM on February 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

You see a ship on fire with 1400 ruined cars. I see a ship full of future 24 for Hours of Lemons cars.
posted by nestor_makhno at 12:58 PM on February 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

This one seems to have cars in containers, but the fact electric car batteries can apparently ignite when knocked about is terrifying for roll-on roll-off ferries as the percentage of electric cars in use rises. Guess what happens when you encounter rough seas - even the Baltic, pond that it is, can get spectacularly rough - and maybe someone didn't attach that one wheel quite as well as they should have because time is money and delaying departure is messing up the entire port's navigation pattern. Does sound like they'll need to at least identify and separate them, the same way it's done to LPG powered cars on some ferry lines.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 1:24 PM on February 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

This is peak 2022 and it's only February.
posted by tommasz at 2:14 PM on February 19, 2022 [7 favorites]

Are we entirely sure this isn't a metaphor for the current US?
posted by evilDoug at 2:19 PM on February 19, 2022

German cars. A ship full of luxury German cars. Gee, who is pissed at Germany?
posted by Oyéah at 2:25 PM on February 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

'Sincerity Ace under tow following fire in Pacific. 2019'
"The spokesman for the owner and manager said cause of the fire was unknown at this time, but they would manager would work closely with all appropriate authorities to try and determine a cause."

Electric Vehicles and Maritime Transportation – Fire Hazards Identified.
posted by clavdivs at 2:39 PM on February 19, 2022

cheers, workerant, for your comment and link. Made me quite nostalgic for the old internet...
posted by nicodine at 3:35 PM on February 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

Ship fires like this are hard to put out. Because, you know, to put out a fire at sea, you typically use water. The more water you pour onto the fire, the more water ends up in the boat. The more water ends up in the boat... well, let's just say you often end up getting the boat even more in the water than it is already.
posted by lhauser at 6:30 PM on February 19, 2022 [4 favorites]

How did the fire start?

Since Billy Joel hasn’t specifically denied his involvement, I can only assume he lit the match.

It wasn’t his fault, though. Felipé “hula hoops” Castro and the Space Monkey Mafia put him up to it.
posted by panama joe at 7:39 PM on February 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

The JG Ballard protagonist sipped a martini in a deckchair by the bridge as the bonfire of luxury sports cars raged below him, fueled by the trade winds that were hastening the rudderless ship past the Azores.
posted by chappell, ambrose at 9:09 PM on February 19, 2022 [4 favorites]

From global Automotive News, February 18, 2022:

…U.S. economist Patrick Anderson estimated the initial loss could be $255 million: "A quick estimate, assuming that the ship was only partially full (or that a portion of the cargo is salvaged undamaged), is that there is at least $255 million or more in lost vehicles, plus many millions in salvage costs on top of that, and downstream losses in auto dealerships. It could be more…”

Around 1,100 Porsches and 189 Bentleys were on board, spokespeople for the car brands said. Audi, another Volkswagen brand, confirmed some of its vehicles were also on the ship but did not state how many.

An internal email from Volkswagen’s U.S. operations revealed there were 3,965 Volkswagen Group vehicles aboard the ship. More than 100 of those cars were headed for the Port of Houston in Texas, with GTI, Golf R, and ID.4 models deemed to be at risk, according to the email. The auto industry is already struggling with supply issues, including pandemic-related staffing woes and the global chip shortage.…

posted by cenoxo at 9:40 PM on February 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

METAFILTER: is already struggling with supply issues, including pandemic-related staffing woes and the global chip shortage.…
posted by philip-random at 10:45 PM on February 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

Not sure flooding the cargo deck on a ship like this is a viable option.

The next generation of car carriers, designed for shipping EVs, will have to be a cross between a conventional carrier and a floating dock. Batteries catching fire while en route? Submerge the cargo hold, a scaled-up version of the standard way of dealing with a Li-Ion battery fire. Bit of a bummer for the other n-thousand vehicles on board, but they could probably put in a bunch of watertight bulkheads and only flood the one the fire is in. Or with each section to be lowered and flooded independently while the rest of the ship retains sufficient buoyancy to at least keep the crew, machinery and the remainder of the cargo dry.

So now for the next shipping mishap: such a carrier lighting up in the southern section of the Suez canal.
posted by Stoneshop at 1:19 AM on February 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

there's never been a better/worse shipwreck for meme makers than The Herald of Free Enterprise

The concept of Roll-on, Roll-over ferries was found to be not very popular.
posted by Stoneshop at 1:23 AM on February 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

Burning car carrier Felicity Ace could be $500m cargo loss, says Skytek - Luke Gallin, Reinsurance News, 18 February 2022:

…According to software company Skytek [Marine Solution] … the total value of the cars could exceed the $500 million mark … With cargo typically insured at full replacement value, especially items that are high value … this could be a half a billion dollar loss for the marine re/insurance industry … the estimated market value of the ship is $24.5 billion.
…
As noted by Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS), part of the global insurer, while shipping losses have dipped by 50% over the past decade, fires on board ships remains one of the biggest safety concerns and have actually increased significantly in recent years. Over the past ten years, … fires are the third top cause of shipping losses, and fires resulting in total losses hit a four-year high of 10 at the end of 2020.

“The shipping industry has seen its safety record improve significantly over the past decade with the number of total losses now at record lows,” said Captain Rahul Khanna, Global Head of Marine Risk Consulting at AGCS.

“However, fires on car carriers, Roll-on/Roll-off ferries (RoRos), container ships and other vessels remain among the biggest worries for the sector, as demonstrated by the recent rise in incidents.”

“RoRo and car carrier vessels in particular can be more exposed to fire and stability issues than other vessels. ... To facilitate carriage of automobiles the internal spaces are not divided into separate sections like other cargo ships. The lack of internal bulkheads can have an adverse impact on fire safety and a small fire on one vehicle or battery can grow out of control very quickly.

Vehicles are not easily accessible once loading has been completed. The large volume of air inside the open cargo decks provides a ready supply of oxygen in case of fire.”

posted by cenoxo at 6:24 AM on February 20, 2022

The large volume of air inside the open cargo decks provides a ready supply of oxygen in case of fire.

And this matters not one iota when dealing with a Li-Ion fire, as those cells provide the fuel as well as their own oxygen. Which is why the only viable way to deal with those is quenching; dunking them in a pool/tank/pond/ocean and keeping them there for at least a few days is currently the only option.
posted by Stoneshop at 7:30 AM on February 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

Surprisingly, losing an entire cargo ship of cars happens more often than you’d expect:

Surprisingly, losing an entire cargo ship of cars happens more often than you’d expect. [Mark, it's not up to you to decide if this is surprising, nor to imagine what I might "expect". This belongs in a web comments section or something—Ed.]

A few years ago, Porsche sent one of their cars back into production after a ship carrying four of the company’s non-street legal 911 GT2 RS model broke out in flames off the coast of France and sunk to the floor of the Atlantic.

In 2019, a ship carrying about 4,200 cars tipped on its side off the coast of Georgia and required a massive clean-up effort.

And in 2020, a cargo ship carrying thousands of used vehicles went up in flames at a port in Florida, becoming so hot that it melted some of the cars inside. (Global News)

posted by sylvanshine at 8:28 AM on February 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

And even if there is the slightest risk of damage, the salvaged cars would have to be comprehensively destroyed, down to any parts that may otherwise end up in the aftermarket. That's a lot of work for someone cutting up tyres, brake discs, circuit boards and upholstery, and a lot of junk in the landfill.
posted by acb at 9:32 AM on February 20, 2022

Man, I wish Cargolaw.com was still updated. That was a great website.

If you really want to read up about car-carrier maritime disasters read up on the M/V Tricolor, a carrier full of BMWs, Volvos, and Saabs that collided with another vessel in December 2002 and sank in the English Channel. Despite warnings two other ships crashed into the sunken wreckage, making it even more of a problem.
posted by JoeZydeco at 10:16 AM on February 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

Bentleys? Porsches? Am I so cynical that my first thought when I heard the headline was that the ship had made a clandestine visit to an unknown location and offloaded its cargo before setting itself on fire mid-ocean to conceal the evidence of theft.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 1:10 PM on February 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

a clandestine visit to an unknown location and offloaded its cargo before setting itself on fire

That would make for a nice smuggling story. Unfortunately it would have a plot hole that you could drive a dozen Komatsu dump trucks through, side by side and not particularly closely spaced. The Felicity Ace is still afloat, is being tended to, and even a not very close post-fire inspection would show the remarkable lack of car remnants. Scuttling it would have had a better chance of concealing the fate of the cargo, and if you plan for such a heist, a few crates of explosives to make that scuttling quick and hard to stop would just be a minor expense. You would also need to spoof the satellite tracking, arrange for a not-port to receive a 80.000 tonne vessel, and manage to get the unloading done fast enough that she's still able to get where she would be according to the planned route at the time the mishap strikes.

But if you're an evil mastermind you surely can arrange such an impossible job to be carried out successfully.
posted by Stoneshop at 2:34 PM on February 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

whatta about a submarine...

Lithium-ion Batteries From Electric Vehicles Aboard The Felicity Ace Are Keeping The Fire Alive.
posted by clavdivs at 3:46 PM on February 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

You are supposed to ship electric cars with a low charge so there's not so much energy if one catches on fire. Who knows if they did this. Also, a lot of the cars were gasoline cars. It reminds me of that parking garage in Sweden full of EVs that had a huge fire. It turned out the fire was started by a diesel car.
posted by eye of newt at 8:58 PM on February 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

Also in Sweden, they're hollowing out a mountain in Stockholm to build a new bus interchange at Slussen. When it's complete, the bus loop will be entirely inside a cavern blasted out of rock, accessed by a tunnel from the road. They do mention that there will be extensive fire-suppression mechanisms (i.e., a huge reservoir filled with water for sprinklers, among other measures), though not everybody is reassured. (Buses here are currently diesel/biodiesel, though a shift to battery power is likely.)
posted by acb at 1:37 AM on February 21, 2022 [1 favorite]

Who knows if they did this.

You would have a hard time trying to convince me that VAG wouldn't be aware of this. But even with near-empty batteries, there's a non-zero chance of combustion.
posted by Stoneshop at 1:56 AM on February 21, 2022

So, according to this thread, we are *glad* that now 1) a bunch of combustion by-products are in the atmosphere that weren't headed there before 2) an insurance company is going to pay out hundreds of millions of dollars that will go to car companies to make more cars to replace these ones.

I also just learned that if there is ever a car fire, it's got to be an EV, and it's best to try to put it out with a can of gasoline.
posted by tigrrrlily at 6:04 AM on February 21, 2022 [2 favorites]

Salvage Team Begins Towing Felicity Ace, gCaptain, Mike Schuler, February 25, 2022:

A salvage team has successfuly boarded the Felicity Ace car carrier and attached a tow line to stop it from drifting more than a week after the ship was abandoned in the Atlantic Ocean, the ship’s manager said Friday.

Smoke emanating from the Felicity Ace is reported to have stopped and is no longer visible—the first we have heard since the fire broke out ten days ago. There are also still no reports of oil leakage and the stability of the ship remains stable, according to today’s update from MOL Ship Management (Singapore).

A salvage team has boarded the Felicity Ace by a helicopter and towing has commenced by the salvage tug ‘Bear’ [info] to a safe area off the Azores. Two additional tugs, ALP Guard [info] and Dian Kingdom [info], together with a large anchor handling tug with additional firefighting capability, named V.B. Hispanic [V.B. Hispania info], are escorting the tow….

Additional details in Felicity Ace Under Tow in First Phase of Salvage Operation, Maritime Executive, Feb 25, 2022.

Waiting for updated damage assessment and photographs.
posted by cenoxo at 7:24 AM on February 26, 2022 [1 favorite]

Hammerhead shark pulls up in Bentley.
posted by spitbull at 7:32 AM on February 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

Aaaaaaand.... scene
posted by chavenet at 7:33 AM on March 1, 2022 [2 favorites]

Unfortunately no. This is just beginning now. This is one of the worst possible outcomes. I was strongly hoping the salvers would be able to get this to shore. Then it could be actually over.

This makes it into a bigger emergency. Fuel oil spills, lithium phosphoflourides etc.. released into the environment. In almost all cases, there's little that can be done to control the mess now, as the source is largely unreachable in the short to medium term.

Fuel oil, engine and lube oils, contaminated bilge water will escape. The largest risks are to the surface crossers, the birds in particular who hunt and rest on the water surface. A drop of oil on their feathers is often fatal, the same way a hole in a wetsuit is fatal to humans in freezing water. There can be pelagic and benthic impacts too, depending on how much sediment is in the water there and if a marine snow is a major concern.

For the batteries, lithium itself isn't a major issue for marine life, but many of these chemistries include fluorides and those are major concerns. Much depends on the forms they are in now, especially after a prolonged period of combustion with low oxygen. polyfluorinated dioxins and furans are a concern as are inorganic phosphofluorides. There's equally the possibility of choro-organics forming from plastics combustion, such as vinyl used in the car manufacture or similar materials.

This is just starting. Salvage operations of sunken vessels take months to organize and raising vessels is extremely hard and expensive to do. It's exceedingly unlikely in this case. So instead, this could continue to leech stuff on the ocean floor for decades.
posted by bonehead at 8:54 AM on March 1, 2022 [2 favorites]

Felicity Ace Sinks in Atlantic Ocean, Mike Schuler, gCaptain, March 1, 2022:

…The ship’s manager, MOL Ship Management (Singapore), confirmed that the vessel sank around 9 a.m. local time on Tuesday approximately 220 nautical miles off the Azores Islands, citing initial reports from the on-site salvage team. Salvage vessels will remain in the area to monitor the situation.

The sinking of the Felicity Ace comes nearly two weeks after a fire broke out in the ship’s cargo area. … Unfortunately with the ship now at the bottom of the ocean, we may never know what caused the initial fire or contributed to its spread.

More about the sinking at Wikipedia > Felicity Ace:

On 1 March 2022, Felicity Ace was reported to have capsized and sunk. A Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) spokesperson said that the ship developed a 45-degree list to starboard and then unexpectedly capsized and sank at approximately 9 am local time about 220 mi (350 km) off the Azores in rough seas. MOL was unable to confirm if any oil pollution had occurred.

The Portuguese Navy said that oily residue and wreckage was visible at the surface, the water was about 3,000 m (9,800 ft) deep at the sinking site, and that naval forces would continue to monitor the area.

A risk-modeling analyst estimated the value of the goods aboard the ship at $438 million, of which $401 million were cars, and estimated Volkswagen's losses at $155 million.

posted by cenoxo at 8:27 PM on March 2, 2022 [1 favorite]