Mith powerful tugboats, salvage teams on the North Sea were able to tow free the container freighter “Mumbai Maersk” that had run aground in the second attempt. This was announced by the emergency command in Cuxhaven immediately after the salvage operation on Friday night. The 400 meter long ship has been stuck in shallow water a good six kilometers north of the East Frisian island of Wangerooge since Wednesday evening.
The ship coming from Rotterdam can thus continue on its way to Bremerhaven. However, it cannot enter the port until the next high tide on Friday afternoon. That should be the case around 4 p.m., said a spokesman for the emergency command. That’s how long the ship has been in the roadstead in the North Sea.
The night before, the first attempt to tow the Mumbai Maersk free had failed. At the high tide on Thursday afternoon, the water wasn’t high enough to try it. The shipping company then ordered two powerful deep-sea tugs to the scene of the accident in order to start the further, now successful, attempt on Friday night. They were supported by six smaller assistance tugs.
The cause of the crash is still unclear
The “Mumbai Maersk” transports goods from Asia. With a capacity of around 20,000 so-called standard containers, the ship, which went into service in 2018, is one of the largest container ships in the world. Why it ran aground was still unknown at night. It got stuck late Wednesday evening when heading for the Weser estuary. According to the shipping company, the ship and crew were unharmed, and access to the port of Bremerhaven was also free. There are no signs of damage to the hull or the escape of environmentally hazardous substances, Maersk said before the successful operation.
At the beginning of 2019, another container giant, the “MSC Zoe”, lost 342 containers in a storm off the Dutch and East Frisian Islands.
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