Cargo Ship That Grounded Just Meters From House In Norway Refloated

A cargo ship that ran aground and crashed into a Norwegian garden last week, missing a nearby house by only a few meters, was successfully pulled back into open water on May 27. The 135-meter-long container vessel, NCL Salten, had been stuck on the shore of the Trondheim Fjord since May 22.

The ship, sailing under a Cypriot flag, grounded in the Byneset area and came to a halt just a stone’s throw away from the home of local resident Johan Helberg.

The incident caused damage to a heating pipe on the property, but the house itself remained untouched. Helberg said he was asleep at the time and only found out when a neighbor rang his doorbell and called him.

Salvage teams from BOA Offshore successfully refloated the vessel using tugboats at around 10:30 a.m. local time on Tuesday. The operation, which lasted about 30 minutes, went smoothly on the first attempt.

The vessel was then towed to the nearby port of Orkanger for further inspection.

Video Credits: DW News/YouTube

Ahead of the refloating operation, containers were unloaded on May 26, to reduce the ship’s weight, especially at the bow. None of the 16 crew members on board were injured, and authorities confirmed that there were no oil spills from the incident.

Norwegian police said that the second officer on duty, a Ukrainian man in his 30s, admitted he had fallen asleep while navigating the vessel. He has now been formally charged with negligent navigation.

Investigators also found that none of the ship’s collision alarms appeared to go off during the grounding. As part of the ongoing investigation, police are also looking into whether the ship followed legal requirements for crew rest hours and working time.

The man whose garden the ship crashed into, Johan Helberg, later told local broadcaster TV2 that he felt lucky the ship didn’t hit the nearby rocky cliff, which could have launched it into his house.

Video Credits: Times News/YouTube

Helberg also said that, despite the close call, the experience was unforgettable and something he would never have imagined happening. “It wasn’t many meters off,” Helberg was quoted as saying. “If it had hit the rock, it would have come straight into the house.”

This is not the first time NCL Salten has had trouble. According to the shipping company’s CEO Bente Hetland, the same vessel ran aground twice before, once in Hadsel in 2023 and again in Ålesund in 2024.

Ole T. Bjørnevik, general manager of BOA Offshore, the company that carried out the refloating operation, told local media the job went better than they had expected and was completed without any complications.

As the vessel now undergoes inspection and unloading, authorities continue their investigation into the circumstances that led to the crash.

References: AP News, cbsnews

Source: Maritime Shipping News