Sea-Land Express pulled off African beach after stranding

Sea-Land Express pulled off African beach after stranding    The “Sea-Land Express,” a 2,829-TEU containership chartered by Maersk Sealand for its U.S. East Coast/southern Africa liner service, was pulled from a beach in South Africa and re-floated on Saturday, nearly a month after the ship accidentally became stranded in sand.
   Three tugs pulled the ship from the sand in front of Sunset Beach after a salvage operation carried out by Smit Marine.
   Maersk said on Monday that the vessel is being off-loaded at Cape Town’s container terminal.
   The vessel is owned by U.S. Ship Management, Inc., based in Charlotte, N.C., chartered to Maersk Line Ltd. and placed in a pool of ships for Maersk Sealand.
   With 1,038 containers on board, the ship ran aground on Aug. 19. “Since then, Maersk Sealand and Safmarine proactively kept their customers informed about the progress of the salvage effort in order to help them plan next steps for their cargoes,” Maersk said.
   “In our capacity as charterers, Maersk Sealand gave all appropriate support to the salvage operation, which included the safe removal of hazardous cargo while the vessel was grounded,” said spokesperson Jesse Lewis.
   Another ship, the “Northstar,” will transport the recovered northbound cargo of the “Sea-Land Express” from Cape Town to the U.S. East Coast. The additional ship is expected to arrive in Cape Town on Sept. 20.