Nissan cars were stuck to the side of the ship while others were caked in inches of ice after the freak sea conditions en route to showrooms in Russia, reports Mirror.
Consequences of Ice storm
A batch of Japanese cars have been left stuck to the side of a ship in a freak ice storm en route to Russia.
Temperatures reached minus 19C with high winds at sea where waves splashed onto the deck and froze the cars including second hand imports.
In some cases ice from the big freeze caused windows to crack or buckle leading to horrific interior damage.
The ship raced to Russia despite weather alerts to import the vehicles, including many electric cars, ahead of a rise in tariffs at the start of 2022.
Frozen vehicles were hoisted from the Sun Rio Ro-Ro cargo carrier in Vladivostok while others, including Nissans, are still iced to the side of the ship.
The cars can now only be used for parts after they were caked in up to six inches of ice and transformed into auto-igloos in the Sea of Japan.
The hurry to deliver
Vesti-Primorye reported: “As auto traders say, the carriers were in a hurry to deliver the cargo to Russia before an increase in duties on the import of electric vehicles, of which there are many on board….poor customers.”
Car salesman Alexander Bagola said: “There were many Nissan Leaf electric cars on board.
“As I was told this ship was in a big hurry to arrive in time before the new import duties on electric cars come into force in 2022.”
The frozen cars
Weather expert Evgney Tishkovets said it was “naive to hope that this valuable cargo of cars would survive the extreme frost without any damage.”
He added: “The frozen cars were literally squeezed by ice.
“There are cracked windows…and water in the handles and wipers elements like handles and wipers are destroyed.”
Furthermore, sea water inside the car body “guarantees that the car will rust more rapidly”.
He said: “The worst thing is that all the electric equipment can be destroyed. This is the death penalty for modern car.”
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Source: Mirror
