More than thirty Chinese made Jaecoo SUVs worth £900,000 go up in flames at Southampton docks

By AIDAN RADNEDGE, SENIOR NEWS REPORTER Published: 11:47, 3 June 2026 | Updated: 11:59, 3 June 2026 Thirty-three Jaecoo SUV hybrid vehicles worth more than £900,000 have been engulfed in a fire at Southampton docks. Firefighters were called at about 4.20am today to a site on West Bay Road after locals reported 'explosions'. Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service said 33 hybrid vehicles were involved. The cars are believed to be E5s from the Chinese brand Jaecoo - prices for which start from £27,505 apiece. Pictures show a number of vehicles with significant damage - with some completely gutted - while huge black plumes of smoke filled the air. At the height of the incident there were 10 fire engines, two water carriers, an aerial ladder platform and support vehicles at the scene, the fire service said. Residents were advised to keep windows and doors closed. There were no reported injuries. One nearby local, who asked not to be named, told the Daily Echo: 'It woke me up around 3.30am. Thirty-three Jaecoo SUV hybrid vehicles worth more than £900,000 have been engulfed in a fire at Southampton docks The damaged cars are believed to be E5s from the Chinese brand Jaecoo - prices for which start from £27,505 apiece Firefighters were called at about 4.20am to a site on West Bay Road after reported 'explosions' Pictures show a number of vehicles with significant damage - with some completely gutted - while huge black plumes of smoke filled the air 'After a while, I got up to find out what was causing so much noise and that's when I saw the smoke. 'I called the fire service at around 4.20am and was told the incident had already been reported. The car horns and explosions were quite loud. 'By about 5.40am, it looked as though the fire had been put out. The smoke was very thick and had an acidic smell.' The cause of the fire is currently unknown. Associated British Ports, which operates the dockyard, said: 'There has been a fire in a vehicle storage compound in the Western Docks area of the Port of Southampton. All personnel are safely accounted for. 'The fire is well under control and has impacted around 25 vehicles. 'ABP staff are supporting the incident response services in their work.' The company's website describes the Southampton docks as 'the UK's number one vehicle handling port, processing 600,000 vehicles per year'.  No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.