Felicity Ace fire expected to generate $155 million economic loss for Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi, and Lamborghini according to Russell analysis

A fire on the Felicity Ace ship off the coast of Portugal’s Azores Islands is expected to generate at least $155 million in expected economic losses for Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi, and Lamborghini vehicles on board the vessel, according to Russell's analysis.

The ship was carrying more than 4,000 cars according to various news sources.

An internal email from Volkswagen US reported in German media showed that the ship was carrying 3,965 vehicles of the VW, Porsche, Audi, and Lamborghini brands. Porsche confirmed that 1,100 of their cars were on board the ship.

The total dollar value of goods on the ship is estimated to be $438 million and of that an estimated $401 million was for cars and goods vehicles according to Russell’s analysis.

The Felicity Ace ship was travelling from Emden, Germany where Volkswagen have a large factory to Davisville in Rhode Island, USA.

Suki Basi, Russell Group MD commented on the figures:

“These figures showed once again the precariousness of global supply chains. The incident comes at a bad time for global carmakers who are in the middle of a supply chain crisis sourcing semiconductors, resulting in new delays for new cars. An event like this will not do a great deal in instilling trust with consumers.

“Using our ALPS Scenario Factory, we identified that the Volkswagen brand and its subsidiaries do indeed have a significant exposure to this event, running into the millions.

“With so much uncertainty in the global trade landscape, our view has always has been those corporate entities and their insurers will need good near real-time data combined with a strong analytical interpretation of those insights to ensure that they navigate a way through potential disruption.”