Maersk Line containership runs aground in Fremantle harbor

The Maersk Garonne was pulled free early Saturday morning, just hours after running aground.    According to a statement from Fremantle Ports, the Maersk Garonne became stuck in soft sand 500 meters off South Mole at about 5 AM local time. Tug boats were able to pull the vessel free by about 8:30 AM.
   The Australian Maritime Safety Authority will perform a full investigation, but initial assessments indicate that there were no injuries to the crew, no damage to the vessel and no negative environmental effects resulting from the incident.
   According to ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting, the 4,544-TEU Maersk Garonne operates on the joint Asia to Australia Boomerang service from Maersk Line, its subsidiary line Safmarine and Mediterranean Shipping Co. Hamburg Sud and its subsidiary Alianca purchase slots on the loop, along with G6 Alliance members APL, Hapag-Lloyd and HMM.
   Maersk Line and MSC comprise the recently-commenced 2M vessel sharing agreement, operating together on the major east-west trades.
   The Boomerang utilizes 11 vessels, five each from Maersk and Safmarine plus one from MSC, with an average capacity of 4,310 TEUs. The full port rotation of the loop is Tanjung Pelepas, Singapore, Fremantle, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Yokohama, Osaka, Busan, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Brisbane, Sydney Melbourne, Fremantle, and back to Tanjung Pelepas.
   The Maersk Garonne is currently at anchor in Gage Roads, awaiting further investigation.