The vessel’s owner and shipping company, as well as insurance companies, are seeking damages in the three-digit million range at a court in Braunschweig.
Similar proceedings are also pending before courts in Stuttgart and Panama.
The ship was on its way from Emden in Germany to the United States loaded with around 4,000 new cars from the VW Group – including Porsches, Bentleys and Audis – when it caught fire off the Azores on February 16, 2022.
Half a month later, it sank while being towed back to port.
The cause of the fire has been disputed ever since, and mediation has failed to resolve the case.
The lawsuit is directed against Porsche and Volkswagen Group Logistics.
Presiding Judge Ingo Michael Gross said the case had elements of the chicken and the egg riddle.
The court had to resolve whether one car set alight first, or whether the cars caught fire for some other reason, the said.
The seven plaintiffs are set to argue that the battery of an electric car spontaneously set alight.
The defendants deny this, and claim that the fire had a different cause and that the damage to the ship and the sinking could have been prevented by more careful supervision.
The judge said the court would have to examine whether the shipping company should have taken better safety precautions, or whether Volkswagen should have informed the shipping company better about the potential risks with the cars.
Following the fire on the freighter, the German Insurance Association called for better fire-extinguishing systems on large cargo ships, given the high value of the goods they are transporting.
The court set a deadline of October 8 for both sides to make their opening submissions.
