Yacht dealer sues for $20m after cargo ship fire

Taiwanese yacht dealership Alexander Marine has filed a lawsuit in the US federal court, seeking $20m damages from five parties including a German shipowner, a cargo ship, a US chartering company and boatbuilder Silent Yachts.

The case revolves around a fire aboard a cargo ship that happened in November 2021, in which over $20m of Ocean Alexander yachts were reportedly destroyed while being transported from Taiwan to Florida.

Alexander Marine, which is the US dealer for Ocean Alexander yachts, is seeking damages from all parties involved in the stowing and shipment of three of its yachts aboard the 138.5-metre cargo ship BBC Virginia, owned and operated by Briese Schiffahrt.

The complaint, which was filed in the US federal court for the Southern District of Florida on 12 December 2022, argues that: “Based on the damaged condition of the affected yachts, all surveyors agreed that the fire started [in] either hatch number one – or the vessel stowed above it, noting that said vessel was a ‘pile of ashes’ on inspection.”

The fire allegedly started on board a yacht owned by Sempre Italia and Silent-Yachts, which Alexander Marine argues was defective, thanks to an “unproven and untested radical solar powering system.”.

Defendant Cross Chartering Yacht Transport, a US yacht-transporting firm, is accused by Alexander Marine of violating the contract of carriage, after placing three Alexander Marine ships aboard an “unseaworthy” vessel.

The fire swiftly spread to three Ocean Alexander yachts, according to Alexander Marine, and destroyed two of them. The third is reported to have suffered extensive damage. The lawsuit states that the three vessels were worth a total of $21m, but does not reveal the value of the damages incurred. The case is ongoing.

The 12,657-dwt general cargo ship BBC Virginia was built in 2010. The ship left Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on 26 November 2021, bound for the US. The fire reportedly broke out aboard the cargo deck while the ship was still in the Taiwan Strait, and the vessel returned to Kaohsiung on 11 December, after calling into China. The vessel is currently sailing in East Asia, en route to the port of Hitachinaka, Japan.

In March this year, MIN reported that a burning cargo ship holding around US$401m (£295m) worth of supercars had sunk off the Azores Islands in the North Atlantic Ocean.

The Panama-flagged ship caught fire in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean last month, while travelling from Embden, Germany to Rhode Island, US. All 22 crew members were safely evacuated on the same day.

Felicity Ace‘s cargo was said to be some 4,000 vehicles, including Porsches, Audis, Lamborghinis and Bentleys.