Carmaker Volkswagen AG will pay a heavy bill after a cargo ship carrying thousands of luxury vehicles caught fire near Portugal’s Azores islands in the Atlantic Ocean last week.
According to the Reuters news agency, the risk modeling firm Russell Group has estimated that the German manufacturing sector risks losing at least 155 million dollars (about 135 million euros). That’s nearly 40% of the value of the cars carried by the ship, Bloomberg reported.
On board were Porsche, Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini – all Volkswagen brands – worth an estimated $405 million, according to the company. The total value of the goods on board is approximately $438 million.
The fire broke out on Friday 18 February inside the hold of the plane Happiness Acewhich had left Emden in Germany 10 days earlier and was due to arrive in Davisville (Rhode Island) on 23 February. The 22 crew members were rescued from the ship.
THE Happiness Ace it is still adrift in the Atlantic Ocean and by Tuesday afternoon the fire had not yet been completely put out, but according to Mitsui there were no oil leaks and the ship remains stable. Heavy tugboats sprayed water on the ship Tuesday in an attempt to put out the flames. The company also said it is working with rescue teams and local authorities to find a “timely solution” to the incident.
Russell Group’s estimates are based on the assumption that none of the vehicles will be salvageable. While no information has emerged on how many cars of each make were on board, THE New York Times It was reported that there were 1,100 Porsches and 189 Bentleys.
