Cargo Ship Full of Porsche Vehicles Is on Fire in the Ocean
Roughly 4,000 Porsche, Bentley, Volkswagen, and Lamborghini vehicles could be lost.
Supply chain constraints, including the chip shortage, have been a thorn in the sides of consumers and companies alike over the past year-plus, making everything more expensive and more difficult to obtain. This includes the automotive world, where production has slowed to a crawl, leaving dealer lots empty and sending prices to new record levels. As if all of that wasn’t enough, now it seems that a cargo ship full of Porsche, Volkswagen, Lamborghini, and Bentley vehicles is on fire in the Atlantic Ocean, leaving the fate of around 4,000 cars in peril, according to the Washington Post.
Thankfully, all 22 crew members on the Felicity Ace have been rescued, and a Portuguese Navy patrol boat was able to spring into action to help after a fire broke out in one of the ship’s cargo decks. The boat left the port in Emden, Germany roughly a week ago, and was expected to land in Rhode Island later this month, but now, it would be a miracle if most of the vehicles on board can be salvaged, given how long the fire has been burning.
Thus far, some Porsche customers have received messages from the automaker’s tracking tool notifying them that the automaker is aware of the incident and will provide more information when it’s available. That includes The Smoking Tire’s Matt Farah, who recently revealed via Twitter that his own recently-ordered Porsche Boxster is indeed on the Felicity Ace.
For everyone who is asking the dealer has promised to keep me posted with any updates on how Porsche decides to sort this out. Odds are a new build and hopefully not another 8 months wait for it. https://t.co/izxnLvgvmg
— Matt “I Park Cars” Farah (@TheSmokingTire) February 17, 2022
Luckily for those that may have a limited edition model on the burning ship, Porsche has a history of replacing them, as it did back in 2019 when a number of 911 GT2 models were lost when a cargo ship sank.
“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,” Porsche said in a statement to The Drive. “We believe a number of our cars are among the cargo onboard 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.”
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