The car carrier Felicity Ace has sunk in the Atlantic Ocean

MOL Ship Management (Singapore), the ship’s manager, stated that the vessel sank around 9 a.m. local time on Tuesday, roughly 220 nautical miles off the coast of the Azores Islands, according to preliminary information from the on-site recovery team.

Salvage ships will remain in the vicinity to keep an eye on things.

The Felicity Ace sank approximately two weeks after a fire broke out in the cargo compartment of the ship.

According to reports, Felicity Ace was transporting roughly 4,000 vehicles, including expensive brands such as Porsches, Bentleys, and Lamborghinis, as well as Volkswagen and Audi vehicles. The shipment is expected to be worth more than $400 million.

Last Monday, a salvage team was said to have boarded the floating ship by helicopter. A tow line was attached, and the salvage tug ‘Bear’ began dragging it to the Azores, followed by two other tugs, ALP Guard and Dian Kingdom, as well as a big anchor handling tug named V.B. Hispanic with added firefighting capacity.

Felicity Ace’s stability remained constant, according to a February 25th report, and smoke was no longer visible. However, according to today’s update, the ship has developed a starboard list.

Until now, the vessel’s final images, which were posted on February 18th, showed burn marks from bow to stern, indicating that the fire had likely engulfed the entire garage area.

According to reports, some of the cars on board were electric vehicles with lithium-ion batteries, complicating firefighting attempts. We may never know what started the fire or contributed to its spread because the ship is now at the bottom of the ocean.

“Further information will be provided as it becomes available,” MOL said in its update.

The Felicity Ace was built in 2005 and is operated by MOL, a Japanese shipping corporation, and owned by Snowscape Car Carriers S.A., one of MOL’s subsidiaries.

The chosen salvor was SMIT Salvage, a subsidiary of the Dutch marine company Boskalis.