The Landgericht Stuttgart (Stuttgart Regional Court) has rejected at first instance a compensation claim brought by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) and five insurance companies against Porsche and the Volkswagen Group over the fire aboard the vehicle carrier Felicity Ace in February 2022. The judge ruled that no causal link could be established between the blaze and the lithium-ion battery of a Porsche Taycan carried on board. This removed the legal basis for the entire claim, which was valued at almost €30 million.
The fire broke out on 16 February 2022, about 90 miles south-west of the Azores, while the Felicity Ace was sailing from the German port of Emden to Rhode Island in the United States. The vessel was carrying around 4,000 high-end vehicles, including Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini and Volkswagen models, as well as more than 100 electric Porsche Taycans. The Volkswagen Group estimated the total value of the cargo at around $400 million, equivalent to approximately €370 million. All 22 crew members were evacuated without loss of life, but the fire continued for more than two weeks before the ship sank on 1 March 2022.
Following the disaster, the Autoridad Maritima de Panama (Panama Maritime Authority) conducted an investigation in 2022 and submitted its findings to the International Maritime Organization. However, the report has never been made public, leaving the official account of the causes largely unclear. Against this background, MOL and Allianz, together with other insurers, claimed that an anomaly in the battery of a Porsche electric vehicle had started the fire and launched separate legal proceedings in Germany against Volkswagen and Porsche. Porsche has consistently disputed this account and has also pointed to possible alternative causes.
The Stuttgart ruling confirms that, based on the evidence currently available, the manufacturer’s specific liability has not been established. However, it is a first-instance decision and may be appealed. A separate case is also still pending in Braunschweig involving Porsche and the Volkswagen Group’s logistics operations over the same incident. The wider legal dispute therefore cannot yet be considered closed. Beyond the strictly legal issues, the Felicity Ace case continues to influence the debate over fire-risk management aboard vehicle carriers, particularly when mixed cargoes include both internal combustion engine vehicles and electric vehicles. The court’s refusal to identify an electric-vehicle battery as the proven cause of the fire does not resolve the wider technical and regulatory questions.
