Claim for damages
Freight end with thousands of VW cars-who pays?
Why was the car transport ship MS “Felicity Ace” on fire in February 2022? And who is responsible for this? This is now a topic in court. The views differ.
Thousands of VW cars sank in February 2022 with the AutoFrachters MS “Felicity Ace” after a fire. Now it should be clarified: Who comes up for the loss? The negotiation of a claim for damages began before the Braunschweig district court.
The owner and shipping company of the ship as well as insurance make a lithium battery of a Porsche Taycan responsible for the fire. The battery of the electric car is said to have ignited on board the ship due to a technical defect. Porsche and Volkswagen deny this. “Volkswagen considers the allegations to be unfounded and will vigorously defend himself,” said a company spokesman.
In addition to Porsche, the lawsuit is also directed against the Volkswagen Group Logistics. The plaintiffs require compensation in the three -digit million range – the exact height is controversial. The Japanese shipping company Mitsui Osk Lines is on the plaintiff page, which, according to the presiding judge, is very experienced in the area of car transport. Similar procedures also run in front of courts in Stuttgart and Panama.
In essence, among other things, the question arises whether a car triggered the fire or whether cars had caught fire through a fire, said the presiding judge Ingo Michael Groß. “What is hen and what is egg?”. Both sides argued at the beginning of the negotiation, for example, about the ship’s deck on which the fire broke out and how trustworthy previous statements of the sailors are.
It is also questionable who had what knowledge. “Who had a knowledge advantage?” Asked the presiding judge. It is about whether the shipping company should have taken better safety precautions. Or whether Volkswagen should have informed the shipping company better about the possible dangers of the cars.
The Volkswagen side says that the shipping company was well informed about the transport goods and the dangers. Among other things, the plaintiffs point out that new batteries were installed in the Porsche Taycans, which was not prepared.
Car freighter sank in front of the Azores
The special ship was on the way from Emden to the USA with 3,928 cars – mostly new cars from VW brands such as Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Seat and just Porsche. Among them were 100 Porsche electric cars of the Taycan type. At the level of the Azores it caught fire on February 16, 2022, six days after the departure in Emden. Nobody was injured: the ship was evacuated an hour after the fire has been recognized. Half a month later, a towing test fell 15 kilometers south of the Azores.
The two parties have time for a first statement by October 8th. Then they should get several weeks again to comment on the different positions. Witnesses should only be heard at a later date. First of all, experts should have their say. The ship itself cannot help to clarify the case – it is at a depth of more than 3,000 meters.
It should therefore be crucial how precisely the plaintiffs manage to explain the accused technical defect on the Porsche Taycan. The hurdles in the procedure are high, said the presiding judge. The plaintiff also admitted that the risk in the procedure was high for them. The two parties can also agree out of court at any time.
What can better protect possible?
In the lecture by the presiding judge it also became clear that technically not everything went smoothly on the ship. For example, the extinguishing system did not trigger properly. The Volkswagen side is of the opinion that it could have slowed down the fire to control the ship to a port. The lawyers also questioned the safety processes on board the ship. The plaintiffs, on the other hand, keep that the built-in foam extinguishing system is not designed for fires of electric car batteries anyway. Because: According to science, electric cars would burn less often. But more violent.
Insurers demand better extinguishing systems
After the devastating fire on the freighter, the overall association of the German Insurance Industry (GDV) had already called for better extinguishing systems on such huge transport ships. “In the case of goods values of up to 500 million euros on board, these ships should be invested in more security,” said GDV general manager Jörg Asmussen at the time.
dpa
Source: Stern
