On
Friday at 22:00 CET the 15,500-teu Emma Maersk (built 2006) became disabled after
it experienced
an ingress of water into the engine room.
Maersk Line officials tell TradeWinds that the vessel had
just commenced its southbound voyage through the Suez Canal en route to Asia.
“Shortly before loss of power, the captain decided
to abort the planned voyage and go alongside the nearby Suez Canal Container
Terminal (SCCT),” Maersk Line said.
“Following the loss of power tugs were requested to tow
the vessel to the terminal. The vessel went alongside at 01:00 CET on 2
February.”
Maersk Line said the initial assessment was that the
vessel was not at any time in any danger of sinking, nor was the crew at any
time in danger.
However, the main engine lost power and the vessel was
not able to sail on its own. Further investigations by divers will be initiated
to establish the exact cause.
Maersk Line said the vessel remains alongside at SCCT and
work on discharging the containers has begun. The crew is safe and there are no
signs of pollution.
Suez Canal traffic remained unaffected during the
incident an official at the canal told the state-run MENA news agency.
Emma Mærsk was the first container ship in the eight
strong E-class. When she was launched in 2006, Emma Mærsk was the largest
container ship ever built
