It’s hard enough to get a shipment of a new car in the middle of the supply chain fiasco, but now some auto enthusiasts waiting on delivery of a Porsche or Volkswagen in the U.S. are really going to be bummed out.
Felicity Ace is a cargo ship transporting new vehicles to North America. It’s stalled in the mid-Atlantic right now because it was on fire. The 22 crew members all had to be rescued, but the Porsches and Volkswagens making the trip were all still on the ship, which is not good.
The journey began February 10 in Germany and was supposed to arrive in Rhode Island on the 23rd. The fire started Wednesday in a cargo hold. Efforts are underway to put the fire out and get the situation stabilized.
This is a big ship. It has a load capacity of 17,738 tons, and on this trip, it was carrying 2,500 cars with it.
Online forums for Porsche and Volkswagen are filled with comments from buyers awaiting their new rides.
Here’s what a Volkswagen spokesperson told Road & Track about their cars on board.
“A number of our cars are among the cargo. We are in contact with the shipping company, and the details of the cars onboard are now known. Customers affected by the incident are being contacted by their dealer.
Anyone concerned by this incident and the implications on the car they’ve ordered should maintain in contact with a dealer with which their order was placed. We believe around 1,100 of our cars were among the estimated 2,500 vehicles onboard the ship at the time of the incident.”
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