ON fire and adrift
 

A container ship full of really nice cars that is. The ship is currently not under command... .

Lamborghinis on board as well.


https://www.thedrive.com/news/44330/...n-the-atlantic

https://www.npr.org/2022/02/17/10816...ing-cargo-ship

Gah!

At least its not 4000 muscle cars

Lithium battery fire?


Tommy

They are still cooking off.

"

Great everyone's off the boat and safe but even if they do get the fire out and save the ship, the cargo will be a total loss after being subjected to such high temps.
Too bad it's not a shipload of burning Teslas although EM would somehow spin it into another win for his group...while everyone else including the environment suffers on.
:tongue:
~ Pete

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:beers:

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The Porsche Dealership my nephew works for had 20 cars aboard.

GONE
Wow, that has really gutted out since the first pics I saw yesterday.
I agree with Pete, they need to get that into a dry dock so it doesn't sink and create environmental damage.

"The ship is burning from one end to the other everything is on fire about five meters above the water line."


https://gcaptain.com/felicity-ace-ca...-mid-atlantic/

Mark 48 improved Advanced Capability torpedo would be the humane way to end the suffering and the smoke.

The hit would break her back and she would be on the bottom in minutes.

The ship is worth $24.5billion. Who picks up the tab for that? Insurance won't cover an intentionally sunk ship.

Recovery is planned for next week.

Well let’s look at the facts.

It is a class D Fire. These fires involve combustible metals so extinguishing agents may react with a combustible metal fire causing the severity of the fire to increase.

If it burns itself out then the Law of Salvage can be applied:


The vessel must be in peril, either immediate or forthcoming; the "salvor" must be acting voluntarily and under no pre-existing contract; and the salvor must be successful in their efforts, though payment for partial success may be granted if the environment is protected.

Who is going to authorize that risk?

The ship is currently a maritime hazard and is an environmental menace. Unless the fire is out nobody will allow the ship to dock. It is an explosion hazard.

Because the fires will need to be smothered to extinguish-access to the burning parts of the ship and the logistics of the recovery would be literally epic and would risk life to do so.

The best and safest way to end this and save the environment - is to sink it.

The owner of the ship has already contracted with tow boats from a Netherlands company to go get the ship. On board will be fire experts to deal with the fire.

I know what is being reported.

Grab a bowl of popcorn and let’s see how it actually plays out.

They are trying to cool it with sea water now. So far it’s not working.

'

The 1/2 Billion cargo loss figure may be close but ship itself not worth 24.5 or even 2.45 if decimal in wrong position.
Luxury Cruise ships twice the width/length including full amenities have been built recently for under 1.5 so how could something much smaller w/ just vehicle ramps and tie-downs cost more?:hmmm:
:beers:
~ Pete

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https://www.express.co.uk/life-style...e-bentley-audi

The ship has value as a hulk. They will never sink it. Dream on.

Happens all over the globe all the time. The fire on this ship is not normal. It is a class D fire. If it burns its way to the ships fuel tanks that is gonna be very bad indeed.

SINK IT was One of the lessons learned from the 2019 "Grande America" cargo ship disaster. This ship caught fire and sank off the coast of France where over 2,000 cars were onboard. The fire was tremendous along with the associated toxic damage to the environment.

On board the Grande were super cars such as the brand-new 911 GT2 RS customer cars that Porsche had to actually reproduce from scratch all over again to replace them.

Story Here:

https://www.nautilusint.org/en/news-...ant-than-crew/

Video:

Finally there is the 2019 Golden Ray disaster. This car carrier is similar to the Felicity Ace.

Capsizing in shallow water, the Ray was finally slated for demolition and later caught FIRE while being salvaged. This ship became the poster child for bad salvage contracting.

Look at the ultimate cost of bad decision making:

Todays update on the ACE says she has now developed a list to one side. NOT good.

https://www.providencejournal.com/st...nd/6860627001/

When I ordered my 2021 Porsche I was able to follow it thru production and on its journey across the ocean with tracking to within the last 15 minutes. Glad I wasn’t tracking my new car that happened to be in this ship. That would be really depressing.

This interview is 24 hours old now. No change from what we know just more confirmation of how bad the situation really is:

The blaze is fed by the lithium-ion batteries in the electric vehicles on board the ship. Lithium-ion batteries ignite very easily and water does not put out their flames. However, at the time, it remains unclear whether these batteries started the fire or were just caught up in it.

The fire is a complex one. It is currently too dangerous for firefighters to go on board the ship so they are tackling it from outside by attempting to cool down its structure.



"The fire is still far from the ship's fuel tanks. However, he did warn that the blaze was getting closer adding that "everything was on fire about five meters above the waterline."

"Firefighters are now in a race against time, attempting to subdue the blaze before it reaches the ship's fuel tanks."

Link:

https://interestingengineering.com/f...s-felicity-ace

In the most recent interview the lawyers said the quiet part out loud:

"London-based law firm Watson Farley & Williams said in a recent report that although it is not clear whether electric vehicles are more likely than ICE vehicles to catch fire, it is common ground that the consequences are potentially more disastrous and more difficult to handle.

“If crews are not aware that fighting an EV fire requires a different technique to that employed in fighting a conventional fire onboard, it is easy to see how an incident could lead to a total loss. The evidence indicates that current suppression and drenching systems will not be sufficient for this new risk. New systems will need to be devised and incorporated into ship design,” stated the law firm."

Link: https://splash247.com/firefighters-s...-felicity-ace/

So IMO there are a few options:

1. Let it burn out and hope it does not reach the fuel while doing so.

2. flood the holds with fire water to cool the battery packs enough to extinguish the massive internal fires.


#1 has risk because the hull of the ship is burned through in several places already and any rough seas could stress the heat damaged hull sufficient to get her to take on water and risk splitting her in two.

#2 has risk because to get enough water in her to cool the fires could also require the fire tugs to sink her through the addition of fire water. Here is where the already present list factors in. She will continue to list to a capsize position.

Davy Jones says:

Current details of the status of the ACE are sketchy. She is in the process of being brought under tug control and efforts to cool the exterior hull have increased with the arrival of additional fire ships. The ACE is reported as still unsafe for crews to board.

But one thing is fairly obvious. Nobody is currently permitted to release any imagery of the ongoing firefighting efforts.

We can all speculate as to why of course.

LINK:

https://www.fleetmon.com/maritime-ne...oned-atlantic/

It was reported this AM it will be towed to the Bahamas ... ???

Here is the official information website that has been set up.

Link: https://www.felicity-ace-information-centre.com/

Reporting out of Australia speculates that all vehicles aboard are now destroyed.

Link: https://www.whichcar.com.au/news/new...er-fire-update

Here is a screen grab from the IMO International Maritime Organization home page for the ACE showing a pronounced list to the right side.

Video of the fire posted here.

Really hits home on the night video segment as to just how devastating this fire is.

https://finance.yahoo.com/video/aban...113706181.html

With the pressure / Volume / Density of that smoke, pardon the pun but that thing is Toast!!!

Autoweek is now reporting the fire as out citing sources within the Portuguese navy.

The official incident page has no update posted yet for today.

Looks like they let it burn out.

https://www.autoweek.com/news/indust...-such-trouble/

It seems they had no way to extinguish the fire anyway. Only option was to let it burn out. Glad it didn't sink, but why tow it to the Bahama's ??? I doubt they have any facility to deal with this mess.

The article I read said either Europe or the Bahamas - which is puzzling

According to the official incident report page (dated for today) the ship is reported as still on fire.

https://www.felicity-ace-information-centre.com/

If they can keep afloat, they are going to need calm calm equatorial seas to tow her through. Choppy seas will swamp her due to the potential for holes in her side just above the waterline, and also likely because the fire has changed her ballast characteristics.

These big ro-ro vessels are known to be prone to roll over in choppy seas if not balanced properly when loaded.

Who knows how much the balance characteristics have changed internally with melting steel and a list to the right side now present for several days.

A friend thinks his new 911 Turbo may be on that ship, ugh.

Multiple stories now contradict the autoweek story which stated that the fire was out.

Here is the latest: (yes it is still on fire)

https://gcaptain.com/felicity-ace-re...inues-to-burn/