As previously reported, the 200-meter roll-off carrier Felicity Ace delivered Volkswagen cars from Germany to the United States. While the ship was 90 nautical miles southwest of the Portuguese Azores on February 16, a fire broke out on board. The fire quickly spread and forced all 22 crew members to abandon ship. Rescuers picked up the sailors and took them to the island of San Miguel.
According to the Portuguese Navy, as of February 20, Felicity Ace continued to burn. In the holds of the roller carrier there are about 4 thousand cars of the brands Volkswagen, Porsche, Bentley and Audi. Among them there are both cars with internal combustion engines and electric cars.
The captain of the nearby port of Faial, Joao Mendes Cabezas, told Reuters that the presence of lithium-ion batteries on board made it difficult to extinguish the fire. Water will not extinguish a lithium-ion battery fire, and the fumes from a burning battery are toxic and potentially explosive. Rescuers also can’t use water because the ship’s increased weight could make it unstable, he said.
According to the latest data, the fire has spread at a level of five meters above the waterline and the flames are still far from the ship’s fuel tanks, but continue to spread. Lithium-ion batteries in the electric vehicles on board are “keeping the fire alive,” Cabezas said, adding that specialized extinguishing equipment was on the way.
The cause of the fire on board Felicity Ace has not yet been determined. Tugboats and an additional team of firefighters were sent to the drifting ship from Gibraltar and the Netherlands, which should arrive by the middle of this week. The Panamanian-flagged vessel is scheduled to be towed to Europe or the Bahamas, but it is unclear when this will happen and which port will be willing to accept the explosive ro-ro vessel.