Shin Kurushima Dockyard constructed the 60,000-ton roll-on/roll-off cargo ship, also known as the Felicity Ace, in 2005. The ship was registered in Panama and was owned and operated by Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines. In February 2022, while shipping automobiles from Germany to the US, it caught fire south of the Azores. With an estimated $400 million worth of cargo, the ship capsized and sank in early March.
Felicity Ace was made specifically to transport vehicles and trucks. The vessel measured 200 meters (656 feet) in length, 32.26 meters (105.8 feet) in beam, and 9.7 meters (32 feet) in service draught. The ship had a gross tonnage of 60,118 and a deadweight of 17,738 tons. It had one primary diesel engine with a power output of 15,286 kW (20,500 horsepower), which allowed it to reach a service speed of 22.3 knots (41.3 km/h; 25.7 mph).
The ship was constructed for Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) of Japan at Yard No. 5306 at Shin Kurushima Dockyard’s Ōnishi site in Imabari, Ehime, Japan, and was assigned IMO number 9293911. On December 9, 2004, the ship’s keel was laid, and on July 2, 2005, it was launched. Felicity Ace, registered under the Panamanian flag and owned by Aurora Car Maritime Transport SA, was finished on October 5, 2005, and handed to MOL. Snowscape Car Carriers SA was her registered owner as of 2011, and she was still managed by the MOL group.
On February 10, 2022, the ship left from Emden, Germany, with 3,965 vehicles from the Volkswagen Group, including models from Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini, and Bentley.
On February 16, 2022, while travelling to Davisville, Rhode Island, over the North Atlantic, the cargo compartment caught fire. The ship was then roughly 200 miles (320 km) from Terceira Island in the Azores. The Portuguese Navy evacuated the 22 crew members who had escaped the ship alive. The Azorean harbormaster told Reuters that electric automobiles’ lithium-ion batteries had caught fire and that only specialized tools could put it out. It is unknown if the initial fire was started by an electric car, despite media conjecture to the contrary.
About 170 kilometres (110 miles) southwest of the Azores, the Portuguese Navy patrol ship NRP Setúbal was pursuing Felicity Ace as it awaited rescuers to attempt to put out the fire and pull the ship to shore. Smit Salvage was hired on February 18th to salvage the ship.
The ship from Gibraltar was to be supported by two sizable tugs equipped with firefighting apparatus. Furthermore, on February 23 or 24, a salvage vessel equipped with firefighting apparatus was scheduled to arrive from Rotterdam. Felicity Ace’s size made it improbable that it would be hauled to a port in the Azores, according to a Portuguese Navy spokesman.
For roughly a week, the ship floated and burnt in the Atlantic. A Smit crew managed to board and steady the ship after the fire was put out, and a towing link to a tug was made.
Felicity Ace was reported to have capsized and sunk on March 1, 2022. According to a representative for Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), the ship capsized in heavy seas 350 kilometres (220 miles) off the Azores at around 9 am local time after developing a 45-degree starboard list. MOL was unable to verify whether there had been any oil pollution. The Portuguese Navy stated that the sea was around 3,000 meters (9,800 feet) deep at the sinking site, that oily residue and wreckage were visible at the surface, and that naval personnel would keep an eye on the region.
On the ship, Porsche lost 1,117 vehicles. Volkswagen reported losing 561 automobiles, Bentley reported losing 189, and Lamborghini reported losing 85. Audi reported losing 1,944 vehicles.
Along with a variety of family automobiles, such as Audi e-tron electric cars and Volkswagen ID.4s, the ship also brought fifteen high-performance Lamborghini Aventador LP 780-4 Ultimae cars, each of which is said to have cost over US$500,000 at retail. Aventador manufacture had ceased at the time of the accident, and the Ultimae was the final Aventador to be built. In addition, the ship transported a large number of tractors and a few privately owned cars and trucks of various kinds and models. These 15 vanished Lamborghini models were restored, with the final one being modelled after the Miura P400.
According to analysts, the cargo loss caused damage between US$334 million and US$401 million.
Comments
