What Does a Car-Carrier Fire Cost the Carmaker?
More than the cargo claim. After Felicity Ace, Bentley rebuilt 189 cars and Lamborghini restarted a finished model; insurance paid for cars, not delay.
More than the cargo claim. Felicity Ace sank in March 2022 with nearly 4,000 Volkswagen Group cars worth about $400 million, and cargo insurers paid for the cars. They did not pay for what came next. Bentley rebuilt 189 cars, 151 of them already sold. Lamborghini reopened production of a model it had finished building to replace 15 Aventador Ultimae. Customers waited months, during a chip shortage and a ship shortage.
Shipowners and underwriters tend to read a car-carrier fire as a hull loss and a cargo claim. The carmaker reads it as a production, sales and brand problem, and most of that sits outside any policy. That gap explains why carmakers increasingly audit, specify and even own the ships that carry their cars.
What does the cargo policy actually pay?
The insured value of the cars, and not the consequences of losing them. A standard cargo policy on Institute Cargo Clauses (A) covers physical loss of or damage to the goods, up to an agreed value. Clause 4.5 expressly excludes loss, damage or expense caused by delay, even where an insured risk caused the delay. For Felicity Ace, early market estimates put the cargo at around $400 million. That figure is the number the insurance market argued over; the carmaker's own costs started where it stopped.
Rebuilding cars that were already sold
The hardest cost is rebuilding cars that already had owners. Bentley had 189 cars aboard, an unusually large consignment against a normal 40 to 70 per ship to the US, and 151 had been presold and specified by customers. At roughly $300,000 a car that is about $57 million of cars, and The Drive put the shipment at nearly 5% of Bentley's Americas sales. Teams in England and Germany began re-entering orders while the ship was still afloat. No replacements were available off the shelf because of the semiconductor shortage. Bentley found capacity only because demand in China had softened and sales to Russia had stopped, and it delivered the last replacement in September 2022, about six months after the sinking.
Other brands in the group faced the same problem. Porsche estimated about 1,100 of its cars were aboard, many of them special orders customers had waited months for, and dealers contacted each buyer. Lamborghini lost 85 cars, mostly Urus SUVs still in production, plus 15 Aventador Ultimae bound for the US. The Ultimae was the run-out edition of a car whose production had ended, so the company had to re-establish the supply chain to build 15 more. Its chief executive said the rebuild meant no US customer would lose a car. They did wait longer.
Finding another ship in a tight market
Replacement cars need replacement space, and the fleet had little to spare. Clarksons' guideline one-year time-charter rate for a 6,500 CEU pure car and truck carrier rose from about $10,000 a day in August 2020 to $115,000 a day by November 2023, more than a tenfold increase. Many older ships had been scrapped during the pandemic and few were ordered, while Chinese exports climbed. Losing one ship in that market does not just lose its cargo. It removes a slot from a schedule the carmaker cannot easily rebuy, at a time when every other carmaker is trying to buy the same space.
The brand and legal bill
Carmakers also spend to control what happens to their cars and their name after the fire. After Fremantle Highway in 2023, BMW went to court to stop 260 surviving cars, bought from the cargo insurer for €5.1 million, from being resold. In January 2026 the Hague Court of Appeal upheld BMW's seizure. On the liability side, Porsche spent four years defending a claim from Felicity Ace's owner and its insurers. The Regional Court of Stuttgart dismissed that claim on 29 May 2026 because nobody could prove a Porsche battery started the fire. Both cases ended in the carmaker's favour, and neither was free.
What carmakers are changing, and what it means for owners
Carmakers are moving the risk upstream to the ship. Some now own the tonnage outright: BYD and SAIC run their own car carriers. Others write fire-safety expectations into charters and send their own auditors to check detection on the decks their cars sit on. Newbuild buyers are ordering PCTCs with class EV fire-safety notations. For shipowners, a charterer that carries uninsured rebuild, delay and brand costs has every reason to ask how quickly a fire will be found and how far it can spread, and to pick ships that can answer. For underwriters, the carmaker's uninsured exposure helps explain why cargo-side scrutiny has tightened faster than hull pricing.
How RoRoSAFE helps
Most of what a car-carrier fire costs the carmaker sits outside the cargo policy, so charterers now pick ships that can show how early a fire is caught. RoRoSAFE adds infrared thermal and battery-vent gas sensing under each parked vehicle, with alerts before visible smoke that name the deck and bay. Its tamper-evident logs and export-ready reports give charterer auditors and insurers evidence to review. It installs alongside the berth without drydock and holds no class type approval yet.
Pilot: one deck · installed alongside the berth · no drydock · 6 months of dashboard access
Sources
- 1. gCaptain — "Around $400 million worth of cars could be lost in Felicity Ace fire" (February 2022), and Volkswagen email reported by gCaptain confirming VW, Porsche and Audi vehicles aboard. Porsche spokesperson Luke Vandezande, quoted in press coverage (February 2022): about 1,100 Porsche vehicles aboard, customers being contacted by dealers. The insured-loss picture is covered, with its sources, in the linked post Did Felicity Ace Change Car-Carrier Insurance?.
- 2. The Drive — "Here's How Bentley Rebounded After Nearly 200 Cars Sank on the Felicity Ace": 189 Bentleys aboard, 151 presold; ~$300,000 per car; nearly 5% of Bentley's Americas sales; 40–70 cars per ship normally; orders refiled while the ship was sinking; semiconductor shortage; softened China demand and Russia stop-sale freed capacity; final replacement delivered September 2022.
- 3. Motor1 — "Lamborghini Aventador Production Restarting, 15 Cars Will Be Made" (March 2022), and related coverage: 85 Lamborghinis aboard, mostly Urus, including 15 Aventador Ultimae bound for the US; CEO Stephan Winkelmann on re-establishing the supply chain and "no loss for our customers in the US".
- 4. Lloyd's Market Association / International Underwriting Association — Institute Cargo Clauses (A), 1/1/2009, clause 4.5: excludes loss, damage or expense caused by delay, even though the delay be caused by a risk insured against.
- 5. Clarksons Research, via Marine Log — "Clarksons looks at car carrier trade trends" (2023/24): guideline one-year time-charter rate for a ~6,500 CEU PCTC at $115,000/day in November 2023, up from ~$10,000/day in August 2020; pandemic-era scrapping and a thin orderbook against rising Chinese exports.
- 6. Gerechtshof Den Haag, 20 January 2026, ECLI:NL:GHDHA:2026:55 (BMW v. purchasers of 260 Fremantle Highway vehicles bought from the cargo insurer for €5.1 million) and Landgericht Stuttgart, 29 May 2026 (MOL and insurers v. Porsche, dismissed for want of proof of cause). Both are covered with their sources in the linked posts What Happens to Cars That Survive a Ship Fire? and Subrogation and the Cargo-Manufacturer Question.
- 7. Carmaker-controlled tonnage (BYD, SAIC), charterer detection audits and class EV fire-safety notations on newbuilds are covered with their sources in the linked posts Who Pays When a Carmaker Owns the Ship? and Is EV Fire Safety Now a Car-Carrier Spec?.
Questions, answered
Does cargo insurance cover a carmaker's delay costs after a ship fire?+
Generally no. Cargo policies on Institute Cargo Clauses (A) pay for physical loss of or damage to the vehicles up to their agreed value, but clause 4.5 excludes loss, damage or expense caused by delay, even when an insured risk caused it. Rebuilding sold cars, holding customers and rebooking shipping space usually fall on the carmaker unless it has bought separate cover.
How did carmakers replace the cars lost on Felicity Ace?+
By rebuilding them. Bentley re-entered orders for 189 cars, 151 of them presold, and delivered the last replacement in September 2022, using capacity freed by softer China demand and the Russia stop-sale. Lamborghini restarted production of the run-out Aventador Ultimae to replace 15 cars. Porsche, with about 1,100 cars aboard, had dealers contact each affected customer.
Why do car-carrier fires matter more when shipping capacity is tight?+
Because the carmaker cannot easily buy another ship. Clarksons' one-year charter rate for a 6,500 CEU car carrier rose from about $10,000 a day in August 2020 to $115,000 by November 2023. In that market, losing a ship removes a schedule slot as well as the cargo, and rebooking replacement cars competes with every other carmaker's exports.
Why are carmakers auditing the ships that carry their cars?+
Because most of their exposure is uninsured. Rebuild costs, customer delays, lost shipping slots and brand protection all fall outside a cargo policy, so carmakers push fire-safety expectations onto the ship. Some own their own car carriers, others write requirements into charters or send auditors to check detection, and newbuild buyers order class EV fire-safety notations.
Continue the thread
Did Felicity Ace Change Car-Carrier Insurance?
Less than the headlines said. It cost cargo insurers ~$400M of cars, hull one 2005 PCTC, MOL a failed subrogation; what changed was conditions, not rates.
Felicity Ace: Anatomy of an Unproven Fire
The Felicity Ace sank in 2022 with ~4,000 VW Group cars. In May 2026 a German court threw out MOL's claim against Porsche — the cause was never proven.
Who Pays When a Carmaker Owns the Ship?
Increasingly the carmaker itself. BYD and SAIC now run their own car carriers, and owning both hull and cargo dismantles the usual risk transfer.
What Happens to Cars That Survive a Ship Fire?
Often they are scrapped anyway. About 1,000 cars left Fremantle Highway intact, yet BMW won court orders stopping resale of 260 of them as new.
Subrogation and the Cargo-Manufacturer Question
Can insurers recover an EV-fire loss from the carmaker? Stuttgart said no in May 2026: nobody could prove which car started the Felicity Ace fire.
Scenario: A Charterer Audits Your Detection
There is no questionnaire. Tankers have SIRE, dry bulk has RISQ — car carriers have neither, so the audit is whatever the charterer asks.
Is EV Fire Safety Now a Car-Carrier Spec?
Increasingly yes: NOCC Pacific is the first PCTC delivered with DNV's EV fire-safety notation, making early detection a newbuild spec, not a retrofit.