Container Mega-Ship Runs Aground But Has Been Refloated

Following the events of last year, when a containership run aground and blocked the Suez Canal, the Mumbai Maersk met a similar fate at the mouth of the River Weser, en-route to Bremerhaven port.

The 20,568 teu mega-ship grounded just north of the German island of Wangerooge on Wednesday, about 15 miles from Wilhelmshaven, with numerous attempts to float the vessel initially failing.

Luckily this time around, the vessel did not block shipping lanes, and was refloated in the early hours of this morning during high tide. Therefore, delays can only be expected for the cargo on board and the vessel was not scheduled to call directly at the UK.

Maersk Line reported that the crew are safe, there has been no pollution and no sign of hull breach. We would expect the hull to be inspected further when it arrives at Bremerhaven.

The initial report of the incident sparked concerns and bad memories of the 2021 Suez Canal blockage, which took a week for the Ever Given vessel to be freed and escalated into major global trade delays between Asia and Europe.