656-foot cargo ship Felicity Ace and its precious cargo caught ablaze near the coast of the Azores on Wednesday, February 16, and managed to remain afloat while abandoned and drifting.
However, despite salvage efforts, the Portuguese Navy reported that “During the towing process, which had begun on Feb. 24, the ship ‘Felicity Ace’ lost stability and sank some 25 nautical miles outside of the limits of Portugal’s exclusive economic zone, in an area with a depth of about [9,842 feet].”
The merchant ship went down at around 09:00 local time on Tuesday, March 1, 250 miles off the coast of a Portuguese archipelago.
After a fortnight burning adrift in the Atlantic with an estimated 438 million dollars worth of goods and an estimated 401 million dollars worth of cars, including 1,100 Porsches.
The many sank Porsches make up just over a quarter of the Volkswagen group’s cars that did not complete their transatlantic journey to Rhode Island in the United States, as nearly 4,000 cars from VW, Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley and Porsche all took the plunge.
As far as dissatisfied customers go in the States, the VW Group of America’s chief communications officer said “brands are working with their dealers and customers to replace these vehicles and find individual solutions.”
The environmental consequences of this fiasco are the most unfortunate, as the Azores archipelago, located 1,000 km from the African coast, is home to coral reefs, dolphins, sharks and tuna, while being a key feeding ground for migrating species such as blue and humpback whales.
The Portuguese navy reported that the ship had been carrying about 2,200 tons of oil and 2,200 tons of fuel along with other pollutants.
Featured image courtesy of the Portuguese navy
