Oh! All those lovely Cars!

[Doc Vernon]

This Ship carrying a large load of Luxury Cars on Fire .
What a waste of such lovely Vehicles!
But hope that all on Board were safe anyway!
Cheers

An Abandoned Cargo Ship Carrying Porsches and VWs Is Burning in the Atlantic (msn.com)

[j.sabourn]

#1 Assume the fire started in the car decks ? All those cars she is carrying will have been loaded on the drive on drive off system , which means they will all have fuel in their tanks. Dead easy for an arsonist to start , or even start naturally by combustion. Thought by today’s standards on safety however that the safeguards set up for such happening on a purpose built ship were extremely slight. Hope she was well insured ! JS .

[happy daze john in oz]

They do not have full tanks when being loaded, so there is room for gas to build up.
Like any other ship, a fire at sea is not always easy to deal with.
Could be a lot of slightly damaged cars on the market soon.

[j.sabourn]

Have recently put a post up about carrying motor cars in two holds on a ship I was on and this was about 1968 .we had 7 decks built into 2 holds .The law at that time stated that the air in the holds had to be changed at stated periods and extractor fans had to be fitted int the main cargo hold vents. Our passage was from Nordenham Germany to Honolulu , good one for Graham with the Panama Canal blocking the way to work out an eta Graham ? A 14 knot ship ! Anyhow I found the extractor fans were causing dampness through sweating in the holds and causing the first signs of a rust build up in the cars . So unbeknown to others I took it upon myself to open the holds in good weather and dispense with the fans , and carried out at least one inspection daily myself down the holds of any sightable damage . I am please to say every car was discharged with no rude remarks attachéd to its front window by the car surveyors on discharge . Cars had to be inspected daily to make sure their securing Spanish windlasses on each wheel were tight in any case. So together with sniffing for gas was just part of the routine of the ship. JS

[Yachtsman]

From G Captain. It looks like car carriers are a bit of a dodgy proposition.

This latest incident appears likely to join the ever-growing list of infamous car carrier accidents which include Cougar Ace (stability), Baltic Ace (collision/sinking), Hoegh Osaka (stability), Hoegh Xiamen (fire), Golden Ray (stability), Modern Express (stability), and Sincerity Ace (fire). A recently published NTSB report on the Hoegh Xiamen fire, which took place at the United States’ Port of Jacksonville, said an improperly disconnected car battery in a used vehicle started the fire.

Bob

[J Gowers]

I see they were carrying VW and Porsches from Emden I was on the same run in the 70s with the Arctic Troll the photos show the cars being loaded. We were given a tour of the VW factory in Emden which was very close to the docks and very intersting it was to. These cars all had fuel and I do not remember any car deck fans on the ship although there may have been. How ever many years later I was on Stena Ro-Ros and they did have big fans in the car decks.

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[happy daze john in oz]

There was a USA carrier in port, Southampton, and on board a car for the skipper to use should he wish to drive while in port.

[Keith Tindell]

Those car carriers using Southampton must be the ugliest ships afloat, most unseaworthy looking. In fact there used to be a company car carriers called Ugland ?, spelling may not be correct, used to see them often, kt

[Tony Taylor]

Those car carriers using Southampton must be the ugliest ships afloat, most unseaworthy looking. In fact there used to be a company car carriers called Ugland ?, spelling may not be correct, used to see them often, kt

Correct Keith, I was on board one in Grimsby in early 2000s, looking at some temporary repairs to steel work. The engineers I was talking to hated it, but it was a job.

[Bill Morrison]

Those car carriers using Southampton must be the ugliest ships afloat, most unseaworthy looking. In fact there used to be a company car carriers called Ugland ?, spelling may not be correct, used to see them often, kt

I recognized that name "Uglands". Shaw Savill's Akaroa ex Royal Mail's Amazon was sold to them in 1971,R/N Akarita and converted to a car carrier. The reverse of the fairy tale, from a swan to an ugly duckling. The Aranda and Arawa ex Royal Mail's Aragon and Arlanza were sold to Leif Hoegh and met the same fate. They lasted about ten years before going to the breakers!
Bill