A ship carrying around 4,000 vehicles, including Porsches, Audis, and Bentleys, that caught fire near the coast of the Azores will be towed to another European country or the Bahamas, the captain of the nearest port told Reuters on Friday.
The Felicity Ace, a car carrier, was on its way from Europe to the U.S. with a load of new vehicles on board when it caught fire Wednesday near the Azores. All 22 crew members were rescued, and the ship was left adrift and burning.
The Panama-flagged ship, owned by Snowscape Car Carriers SA and managed by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd was traveling from Emden, Germany – where Volkswagen has a factory – to Davisville, Rhode Island in the United States, based on the Maritime Traffic website.
The 656 foot-long roll-on/roll-off car-carrying ship caught fire while sailing 90 nautical miles southwest of Portugal’s Azores, according to a statement on Wednesday by the Portuguese Navy, according to CNN.
Pictures provided by the Portuguese maritime authority showed severe burns on the bow and along the 200-meter-long (220-yard-long) side of the ship, which according to Refinitiv data was built in 2005 and can carry 17,738 tons of weight.
The ship will likely be towed back to Europe or to the Bahamas, Captain Joao Mendes Cabecas from Port of Horta told Reuters.
According to Car and Driver, whatever caused the blaze, the kinds of roll-on-roll-off (RORO) ferries that can transport thousands of cars at once are at high risk for total loss once a fire starts on board.
