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Located in a small seaside resort on the south coast of England, Littlehampton Harbor rarely draws comparisons to major international shipping lanes.
But an incident early Tuesday in the town of West Sussex drew unwanted echoes of the Ever Given crisis in the Suez Canal, after an 80-meter ship broke loose from a mooring and crossed the canal, becoming solidly rooted. in most of the river mouth. the river Arun.
At 80 meters in length, the Elise freighter is dwarfed by the massive Ever Given five times its length, which for six days last week was trapped in the Suez Canal, sparking an international maritime crisis. It was finally released on Monday, allowing the canal to reopen and hundreds of waiting vessels, containing billions of pounds of cargo, continued their journey.
In a statement on its Facebook page, the Port of Littlehampton said the Elise had entered the port at 1.15am on Tuesday, April 30, and was moored at 1.45am, when it began unloading its cargo.
“When the tide went out and she settled on her mud berth, one of her mooring lines broke at 3.30 am. The stern of the ship moved approximately 30 meters into the river before stopping at the remaining mooring lines.
“The port tug Erica was dispatched to ensure everything was stable and port staff helped put more lines ashore. The ship is currently safely aground along its entire length (only further away than usual) with sufficient lines ashore. There is no evidence of damage to the boat. There have been no contamination or injuries ”.
Registered under the Antigua / Barbuda flag, 14-year-old Elise was traveling from Antwerp, according to the Marine Traffic website.
Fortunately, although the photos show the ship at an odd diagonal angle reminiscent of the much larger ship, its grounding hasn’t had the same impact, the port said, as there was enough room to pass near the western shore.
Although a 300-meter stretch of the river was closed when the tide rose to protect other river users, by 2 p.m. Tuesday, the Elise had been secured in port and was once again unloading its cargo.
“Using our tugs we were able to push it in,” said Deputy Harbor Master Michael Hayes. “It is not a major incident, no,” he added.
