Car stuff (public number: chedongxi)
Author | The Way
Edited | Mumi
According to foreign media reports, a large cargo ship carrying nearly 4,000 cars caught fire in the Atlantic Ocean, including Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini and Bentley, including luxury cars were seriously damaged, and 22 crew members were rescued by the Portuguese Navy without casualties.
The cause of the fire is currently unknown, and some people speculate that it may be related to the battery fire of an Audi e-tron Sportbacks on board.
First, the deck caught fire during the voyage The fire spread to both ends of the ship
The 650-foot (198-meter) Felicity Ace ship left the factory in 2005 and can carry up to 4,000 cars. On Wednesday morning, Felicity Ace was traveling from Germany to Rhode Island, passing through a port when the vessel issued a distress signal, reporting a fire on one of the ship's cargo decks. According to a statement from the Portuguese Navy, 22 crew members were successfully evacuated without casualties.
Joao Mendes Cabecas, captain of the port of Hottas, the ship's closest port, told Reuters that an unknown number of electric vehicle batteries were on fire on board, and it was unclear whether the batteries were the cause of the fire, and that firefighting experts were needed to extinguish the fire. Witness Cabersas added that the ship caught fire about five meters above the waterline, burning from one end of the ship to the other.
▲The rescue ship went to sprinkle water to rescue
Second, the ship will be salvaged and recovered The Volkswagen Group suffered heavy losses
The owner of Felicity Ace said plans were currently underway to recover the abandoned vessel and that the tugboat was departing from Gibraltar and the Netherlands and was expected to arrive at the ship's location next week. According to people familiar with the matter, there are about 1100 Porsches and 189 Bentleys on board, as well as an unknown number of Audis. According to foreign media Outletinfo, electric vehicles may be Audi e-tron Sportbacks. Although the automaker declined to provide an estimate, it is estimated that the vehicle damage caused by the fire could exceed $150 million (about 1 billion yuan).
A Volkswagen spokesperson told reporters: "We learned about a fire that caught fire while a third-party cargo ship transporting Volkswagen Group vehicles across the Atlantic Ocean while the ship was heading for North America. At the moment, we have not found any casualties and now we are in contact with shipping companies to get more information about the incident. ”
▲ The blackened hull
Conclusion: The Volkswagen group may have been hit
At a time when global semiconductor shortages and supply chain disruptions are plaguing the auto industry, the fire is another blow to Volkswagen. Volkswagen said it could cut night shifts at a German factory due to chip shortages, which it expects to increase production in the second half of the year.