MSC Istanbul, an ultra-large containership that ran aground in the Suez Canal on March 5, has been refloated.
The Suez Canal Authority said that the 16, 652 containership ran aground during its northbound transit, heading to Portugal from Malaysia. Upon grounding, the canal authority dispatched four tugboats to refloat the vessel.
The four tugs included Port Said, with a bollard pull capacity of 95 tons, in addition to Mosaed 1, Mosaed 2, and Mosaed 5. Baraka 1, one of the SCA’s largest tugboats, also joined the salvage operation.
Suez Canal Authority said the vessel was refloated using its own tugboats, and that MSC Istanbul resumed its journey through the canal.
Admiral. Ossama Rabiee , Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, said on Sunday that traffic through the canal was not affected by the incident adding that all Southbound vessels transited normally. As informed, the rest of the Northbound convoy was instructed to transit through the Eastern waterway instead of the Western lane.
Adm. Rabiee emphasized the fact that the SCA had extensive expertise in the field of maritime salvage operations as well as the technical and maritime safety capabilities that “enable it to deal with any potential emergencies in a professional manner.”
Based on the information from VesselsValue, the 2015-built containership is owned by CMB Financial Leasing from China and operated by Swiss-based MSC.