Carrying roughly 4 000 vehicles, including Bentleys and Porsches, the ship, Felicity Ace, caught fire on the 16th of February. On Tuesday morning, it sank.
Two weeks after catching alight, the 650-foot-long Felicity Ace has sunk about 400 km off the Azores, taking with it thousands of VW Group luxury vehicles.
At around 09h00 local time, the Felicity Ace tilted starboard, sending over 1 000 Porsches and 200 Bentleys into the sea, before starting its own journey to the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean.
Deep concern has been shown by environmental groups regarding the pollution that this incident will cause, likely damaging the unique ecosystem of the Azores whose seabed is covered with coral reefs, coral forests and sponges.
According to environmental groupe Oceana, this area is home to blue whales, sperm whales, humpback whales, dolphins and sharks, amongst other species.
Vessels like the Felicity Ace usually hold more than three million litres of heavy fuel, as well as oil and other fluids. Additionally, wires, paint and plastics also pose a pollution risk.
Six days after the ship departed from Emden, Germany, a fire broke out in the ship’s cargo hold. The ship’s 22 crew members were rescued by helicopter, leaving the 200 m long ship floating ablaze off the shore of Western Europe. While there were several attempts to extinguish the blaze, none proved successful, resulting in the ship not reaching its destination, the port of Davisville in Rhode Island.
A large salvage tugboat had started towing the Felicity Ace to “a safe area” off the Azores, but according to the Portuguese Navy, as the ship was being towed on Tuesday morning, it “lost stability and sank.”
Angus Fitton, a spokesperson for Porsche Cars North America Inc. expressed relief that the members of the Felicity Ace’s crew were safe and well and said, “We are already working to replace every car affected,” as well as, “ the first cars will be built soon.”
