Tug boats have towed free one of the world’s biggest container ships, the Mumbai Maersk, which had run aground off the German island of Wangerooge in the North Sea, Germany’s Central Command for Maritime Emergencies said on Friday.
“The Mumbai Maersk was towed free during a second attempt,” the Central Command said in a statement on its website. “The large container ship is to be brought to the port of destination Bremerhaven at the earliest possible time.”
An offshore tug boat, a multi-purpose vessel and six assistance tugs were involved in the operation, it added.
The Denmark-flagged ship was on its way from Rotterdam in the Netherlands to the north-western German port city of Bremerhaven when it ran aground on late Wednesday evening, the maritime emergency command said earlier.
No injuries were reported among the 30 people on board, and no fuel leak was sighted.
Maritime transport accounts for 80%-90% of all global trade and MumbaiMaersk belongs to a class of very large ships that can carry over 18,000 twenty-foot (33 cbm) equivalent containers holding furniture, vehicles, textiles and other export goods.
The first attempt to tow the 400-metre ship into deeper water on Thursday morning by two multi-purpose vessels and five tugs failed. (Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Kim Coghill)
Maersk’s Update:
We are pleased to confirm that the vessel Mumbai Maersk, which ran aground outside Bremerhaven, Germany on 2 February, is safely afloat. The vessel was re-floated on 4 February at 1:30am CET. The operation was conducted in close cooperation with salvage company Smit and the German Havarikommando. The vessel is at a safe position for further hull and machinery assessment before it is expected to continue its voyage. Furthermore, an internal investigation into the cause of the grounding will be taking place.
We expect to be able to discharge the cargo onboard the vessel for our German import customers tomorrow. If the vessel assessment finds any reason to further delay the sailing to the next port Gothenburg, Sweden, we will action alternative options to minimize the delay. This could include a feeder vessel to the remaining ports left on the rotation or making another vessel do an extra loop.
