Two cargo ships driven away from Lower Saxony ports

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Container ship on the Jade shipping route near Wilhelmshaven

Photo: Oldenburg Water Police Inspectorate

In stormy weather, two cargo ships broke loose in the ports of Lower Saxony on Wednesday and had to be secured by tugboats.

As the water police announced, the two incidents occurred within a few hours in Wilhelmshaven and in Emden.

A container ship and a car transporter were affected.

In both cases, no one was harmed.

The ships were brought back by tows

The mooring lines of the two freighters broke when the gusts of wind continued.

The container ship from the Wilhelmshaven container terminal drifted into the Jade fairway.

The crew initiated an emergency anchor maneuver before alerted tugs then towed it back to the pier.

In the case of the car transporter that was torn loose in Emden, property damage occurred because part of a loading ramp at the stern of the ship tore off.

According to the police, the safety and seaworthiness of the freighter was not affected.

In this case too, tugboats secured the ship and brought it back to the quay wall.

The extent of the property damage is not yet clear.

During a storm and waves four meters high, a general cargo ship with machine failure on the North Sea west of Helgoland had already provided for an emergency operation on Tuesday evening.

As reported by the CCME in Cuxhaven, the 132-meter-long "Royal II" has been drifting west of the island in the German Bight since late afternoon after a machine failure in strong winds.

An emergency tug took the ship on its hook, and salvage experts were also flown in with a federal police helicopter.

After a few hours, the freighter's engine was put back into operation.

The Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) warned on Wednesday morning of the danger of a storm surge for the German North Sea coast.

On the North Sea coast, the BSH speaks of a storm surge when the flood water is at least 1.5 meters higher than normal.

A severe or very severe storm surge is only spoken of from values ​​of 2.5 or 3.5 meters.

swe/afp/dpa