Porsche-transportujący statek towarowy Felicity Ace zatonął na Atlantyku
Thousands of cars—including Porsches, Volkswagens, and Lamborghinis—went down with the ship on Tuesday morning.
Felicity Ace, lotniskowiec, który w zeszłym miesiącu zapalił się na Atlantyku z tysiącami samochodów na pokładzie, zatonął we wtorek rano.
22-osobowa załoga została bezpiecznie ewakuowana ze statku w dniu wybuchu pożaru.
Salvage operations were underway to extinguish the płomienie, but baterie litowe-jonowe in the electric vehicles on board complicated efforts to put the fire out.
Thousands of cars—including Porsche, Volkswageny, and Lamborghini—have gone down with the giant cargo ship Felicity Ace, który płonął na Oceanie Atlantyckim przez prawie dwa tygodnie. Trwała operacja ratunkowa mająca na celu przeniesienie-z-zjazdu-samochodu do bezpiecznego obszaru poza Azorami, gdy zatonął we wtorek rano. Ogień wygasł, zanim statek wszedł pod fale.
The weather had been rough at the time, a spokesperson for Felicity Ace's Japanese operator, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines transportation company, told Bloomberg. The ship sank after listing to starboard around 220 nautical miles off the Portuguese Azores archipelago at around 9 a.m. local time on March 1. Salvage craft remain posted at the site of the sinking to monitor the situation, according to a informacja prasowa from the Felicity Ace Incident Information Centre.
The crew of 22 safely abandoned the ship via helicopter and lifeboat on February 16, the day the blaze first broke out, according to FlotaMon, a website that tracks ocean vessels. "The ship is burning from one end to the other ... everything is on fire about five meters above the water line," Captain Joao Mendes Cabecas of the port of Hortas, told Reuters. Pożar wygasł 25 lutego po rozpoczęciu działań ratowniczych; jego przyczyna jest wciąż nieznana.
The 656-foot-long vessel was traveling from Germany to the U.S., carrying Porches, Volkswagens, and possibly other cargo. Close to 4,000 vehicles were on board. Many of them were electric and contained lithium-ion batteries, which burn uncontrollably without a massive volume of water to put them out, according to Reuters. These situations require specialized equipment, and it often makes more sense to let the fire burn out on its own. Two tugs sprayed the vessel with water to cool the hull, and the salvage team was able to board Felicity Ace by helicopter. A large salvage craft with additional firefighting capability assisted the operation. By February 25, smoke emanating from the ship was no longer visible.
"Maritime salvage is a complex business," Master Mariner Steven Browne tells Popularna mechanika. In most cases, like this one, the vessel owner will contract with a salvage company and the contract will specify the amount the salvor, a person who salvages a ship and items lost at sea, is paid. "The negotiated salvage fee could be a fixed amount or a variable amount based on the time and costs associated with the operation. If specified, the salvor may agree to a 'No Cure, No Pay' provision in which they wouldn't get paid at all if the operation isn't successful. The standard salvage contract that is used is Lloyd's Open Form," says Browne, a faculty member at Akademia Morska Kalifornijskiego Uniwersytetu Stanowego in Vallejo, California.
If a vessel is salvaged without contract, the salvor needs to bring a salvage claim before a court. "The court will determine the value of the vessel and cargo, the risk to the salvors, and the danger to the vessel and cargo," Browne says. In this case, it's likely the award won't top 50 percent of the total value of the ship and cargo. Most likely the salvor will get only 10 to 25 percent.
Niestety wygląda na to, że nie ma już nic do uratowania, ponieważ wszystko zatonęło wraz ze statkiem.
