Porsche has achieved a significant legal victory related to the loss of the car carrier Felicity Ace. A German court has reportedly rejected claims that a battery from a Porsche Taycan caused the fire that led to the s...
Porsche has achieved a significant legal victory related to the loss of the car carrier Felicity Ace. A German court has reportedly rejected claims that a battery from a Porsche Taycan caused the fire that led to the ship's destruction and the loss of nearly 4,000 vehicles.
As reported by the German legal news source LTO (Legal Tribune Online), the Regional Court of Stuttgart has dismissed a lawsuit that sought around €30 million ($34 million) in damages from Porsche. The plaintiffs, which included the ship's Japanese owner and five marine hull insurance companies, claimed that a lithium-ion battery in a Porsche Taycan ignited the fire aboard the vessel in February 2022.
The court found that the plaintiffs were unable to prove that a Porsche vehicle started the fire. The responsibility to provide proof lay with the plaintiffs, and the court was not convinced that a Taycan battery was the cause of the incident.
The Felicity Ace, registered under the Panama flag and operated by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), caught fire on February 16, 2022, while traveling about 90 nautical miles southwest of the Azores, on its way from Emden, Germany, to the United States.
All 22 crew members were safely evacuated, but the fire raged for nearly two weeks before the vessel sank on March 1, 2022. The ship was carrying close to 4,000 vehicles, including models from Porsche, Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, and Volkswagen. It has been reported that over 100 Porsche Taycan electric vehicles were among the cargo.
This incident quickly became one of the most closely monitored disasters in the maritime industry, raising concerns about the risks of transporting lithium-ion battery-powered vehicles by sea.
Despite ongoing speculation, the exact cause of the fire has not been confirmed publicly. The Panama Maritime Authority submitted its investigation report to the International Maritime Organization in 2022, but the details have not been made available to the public.
LTO notes that the Stuttgart ruling is not final and there is a possibility of an appeal.
Furthermore, the legal issues are far from resolved. LTO mentions that a separate lawsuit is still pending in the Regional Court of Braunschweig, where plaintiffs seek damages in the hundreds of millions of euros from Porsche and Volkswagen Group logistics entities.