It is not every day that a mega containership such as CSCL Indian Ocean gets stranded. Therefore, in order to pull such a boxship free it is necessary to employ quite an armada.

The video shows the refloating operation of the 2015-built vessel, one of the world’s biggest boxships, conducted on Tuesday, February 9, by German maritime authorities in the river Elbe.

Namely, the salvage operation was launched at 2am by a fleet of 12 tugs, including Union Manta of Boskalis and Fairmount Expedition, six tugs of Bugsier and four tugs of Kotug Offshore and Smit Salvage, two water police boats, the Do228 of CCME, a medical emergency team of the fire brigade Cuxhaven and the multi-purpose vessel Neuwerk.

The 12 tugboats provided a total bollard pull of 1085 tons on scene. Once freed, the containership was taken to the Port of Hamburg by five tugs.

The CSCL Indian Ocean was en route to Hamburg on Wednesday, February 3 when it ran aground on the Elbe near Lühesand at about 22:00 hrs. The reported cause of the grounding is a failure in the navigation system.

World Maritime News Staff; Video: Inselvideo