One of world’s biggest containerships grounded en route to Hamburg

One of the world’s biggest containerships is hard aground in Germany’s Elbe River leading to the port of Hamburg.

The vessel CSCL Indian Ocean ran aground Wednesday night following an apparent mechanical failure.

An attempt to refloat the ship at around noon local time was unsuccessful.

Germany’s Central Command for Maritime Emergencies (CCME) said it has been in touch with the ship owner and they are in the process of developing a salvage plan. A second attempt to refloat the ship was expected during high tide last night.

An overflight of the area yesterday showed no signs of pollution. There were no injuries reported.

The Hong Kong-flagged ultra large container vessel (ULCV) CSCL Indian Ocean measures 399.6 meters long by 58.6 meters wide. The vessel is part of the fleet of China Shipping Container Lines, part of China Shipping Group. 

It is one of five CSCL ships with the capacity to carry a staggering 19,100 twenty-foot containers.

The incident has cause minor impacts to ship traffic on the Elbe River. 

CSCL Indian Ocean is one of a new breed of giant containerships designed to carry more than 18,000 TEUs and used to transport goods from Asia to northern Europe.   



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