One of Maersk‘s Largest ships that ran aground refloated
One of the largest containerships in Maersk’s fleet went aground the night of February 2, as it was approaching the German port of Bremerhaven.
Maersk confirmed reports from Germany’s Central Command for Maritime Emergencies (Havariekommando) advising customers that the 210,000 dwt Mumbai Maersk was inbound to Germany with containers shipped in Asia heading for Germany and the Scandinavian countries.
The German authorities reported at just after 11 p.m. local time approaching the mouth of Weser, the vessel ran aground on a shallow patch. The 1,309 foot Mumbai Maersk reported no injuries in the grounding but remained stuck.
Reports in the local media suggested that the vessel may have experienced a problem with its rudder while in the fairway approaching the port and made a loop taking her south of the fairway into an area used for dredged material from the shipping lane.
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The first attempts made to refloat the vessel was unsuccessful. However a statement from Maersk states that the vessel has been successfully refloated.
“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,” the statement read.
