BMW is battling in court to stop a consortium from Rotterdam entrepreneurs and businesses who are trying to sell cars recovered from the Fremantle Highway car carrier that caught fire at sea last year. BMW warns that the structure of the cars might have been compromised, rendering them unsafe.
The entrepreneurs from the Netherlands purchased 260 brand-new BMWs, which were on the Fremantle Highway among over 3,700 vehicles. Fire broke out in the loading area of the ship, which was then sailing off the coast of the Dutch island of Ameland, at around 11:45 PM (CET) on July 25, 2023, while it was en route from Bremerhaven, Germany.
The ship, owned by the Japanese tonnage provider Shoei Kisen Kaisha, was due to arrive in Port Said, Egypt, on August 2, 2023, but it never made it to its destination. One of the 23-men crew died in the blaze.
After the fire was extinguished and the tide and winds that swept the North Sea allowed the operation, the cargo carrier was towed to the Eemshaven port in Eemshaven. Around 1,000 unburned cars from the lower decks were extracted. At the time, insurance companies were assuming that the freight was a total loss, estimating the damage at around 300 million euros ($3,2 million).
However, the BMW disembarked from the ship were acquired by the group of entrepreneurs and businesses through an intermediary that had originally purchased them from a Taiwanese insurance company. They were the ones who put the cars up for sale in late 2023.
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BMW filed a preliminary injunction in December 2023, trying to stop them from selling through various dealers the vehicles that were onboard Fremantle Highway last year and citing safety concerns. The Rotterdam group demanded the lifting of the injunction at the court in The Hague.
"There was only soot on the cars," the lawyers of the entrepreneurs claimed during the hearing, as reported by Northern Times. Meanwhile, BMW is making efforts to convince authorities that those cars must be scrapped and they should never set wheels on public roads again.
However, the Rotterdam consortium insisted that the salvaged cars would be sold in states outside Europe, where quality and safety standards are not as stringent as on the Old Continent. But that does not make them any safer. They would pose just as dangerous, but in other places. BMW declined the proposal, stating that those cars should not be driven ever again by anyone.
The German carmaker's lawyers explained that the risks associated with the cars that were declared write-offs are huge and should not be underestimated. Even though the fire did not reach them, high temperatures can affect wiring, paint, and metal components.
Audi and Mercedes were one step ahead and have already sent their salvaged cars to recycling facilities before giving anyone the chance to sell or purchase them.
A video from ten months ago shows BMW cars being unloaded from the ship by crane and parked at the shore, at the Eemshaven port, one next to each other. They, indeed, seem to have soot on their bodies. The soot is particularly visible on cars that are white.
There were reports that an EV on board the ship caused the blaze. However, all the 498 EVs loaded onto the ship were recovered unburned proving that the speculations were wrong. The investigation is still ongoing.
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