Photos: Three Attempts Fail To Free Aground Dutch Cargo Ship Stuck In Mud

A Dutch short-sea cargo ship remains grounded in the Humber Estuary after three failed attempts to refloat it.

The vessel, H&S Wisdom (1,850 dwt), became stuck on Sunday, March 2, while it was en route to Gunness Wharf Port in Northern England.

Despite multiple efforts by rescue teams and tugboats, the ship remains firmly aground.

The vessel left Rotterdam on Saturday for its journey to Gunness Wharf Port, a small private wharf near Scunthorpe that mainly handles bulk and steel-based cargo.

Per reports, a “navigational error” led to the ship running aground near Brough on Sunday evening.

The Humber Estuary, located on England’s east coast, is a key maritime route providing access to major industrial ports, including Grimsby and Immingham.

The Estuary’s tidal nature poses navigational challenges for ships, and H&S Wisdom ended up stuck in the mud before reaching its destination.

Humber Rescue was alerted to the incident at 21:08 GMT on Sunday and made an initial attempt to free the vessel, but the effort was unsuccessful.

A second attempt was made at 07:00 on Monday morning after coordinating with HM Coastguard Humber with the support of three tugboats. But, this time also the cargo ship failed to refloat.

A third rescue attempt took place at 18:00 on Monday evening, but once again, the vessel remained grounded.

The H&S Wisdom, built in 2004 and registered under the Dutch flag, is owned by Wisdom Shipping and managed by Amasus Shipping. Per the company, the vessel was designed with a low draught of 3.4 meters (11 feet) to operate in shallow waters. However, despite its specialised design, the ship remains stuck.

Officials, including local authorities and the UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency, are now working on a strategy to refloat the vessel. No further details on the next course of action have been shared yet.

Gunness Wharf Port, operated by RMS Trent Ports, regularly accommodates vessels up to 100 meters (328 feet) long. The current status of H&S Wisdom remains listed as “aground” on ship tracking platforms.

Reference: BBC

Source: Maritime Shipping News