Container vessel runs aground on the river Elbe

On its way to the port of Hamburg, the 19,000 TEU-vessel “CSCL Indian Ocean” stranded due to a technical failure on Wednesday evening around 25 kilometers ahead of the port. The pilots steered the ship to the side of the fairway to keep the navigation channel free for other vessels. Thanks to this fast reaction, the maritime traffic was not impaired and other vessels are still able to reach the Port of Hamburg.
In the meantime, two attempts of moving the “CSCL Indian Ocean” with the help of six respectively seven tugboats failed. The Central Command For Maritime Emergencies Germany (CCME) took over the incident command on Thursday and initiated additional help through bearing ships and a suction dredger. To make the vessel lighter, some heavy fuel oil was pumped out already.
The CCME is currently working on the next steps to use the newly found information of the bearing and the tidal forecasts into the next attempt of dragging the vessel back to the navigation channel.