At least 4,000 luxury cars go up in smoke on the Felicity Ace, a 200-meter-long freighter currently adrift off the Azores.
Porsche, Bentley, Audi and other Lamborghinis on board will never reach their final destination: the United States.
Portuguese authorities rescued the 22 crew members of the Panamanian-flagged merchant vessel.
The fire broke out on Wednesday February 16 off the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores, the emergency services said on Thursday.
"The 22 crew members were all rescued and transported to a hotel on the island of Faial," a spokesman for the Portuguese navy told AFP, adding that no injuries were to be deplored.
The ship "Felicity Ace" was 90 nautical miles (about 170 kilometers), southwest of the island of Faial in the Azores, when the alert was given after a fire broke out in its hold.
The origin of the fire is not yet known.
It could prevent lithium batteries from electric vehicles.
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The fire of the 'Felicity Ace', which carried high-end cars from Germany to the United States according to local media, 'continued to progress' on Thursday but 'the stability of the vessel is not a concern' , told Joao Manuel Mendes Cabeças, captain of the port of Horta in Faial, to the public channel RTP.
Tugboats from Gibraltar are "expected on Monday", he said.
The disaster would not have caused, for the moment, any episode of pollution, affirm the navy and the authorities.