Another mega-vessel runs aground at Bramble Bank

The 14,000-TEU APL Vanda is the latest large containership to run aground, this time in the same location as the car carrier Hoegh Osaka ran aground last January.    Another large containership ran aground over the weekend at Bramble Bank in the Solent, a section of the English Channel between the Isle of Wight and the Port of Southampton, the same area in which the car carrier Hoegh Osaka ran aground last January.
   The 14,000-TEU APL Vanda was en route to Southampton from the Port of Le Havre in France, when it lost power and was forced to ground Saturday night.
   Eight tugs worked to free the Singapore-flagged vessel early Sunday morning before towing it safety to Southampton that afternoon.
   All crew were reported safe and there have been no reports of pollution or damage to infrastructure as a result of the incident.
   According to ocean carrier schedule database BlueWater Reporting, the APL Vanda serves on the G6 Alliance’s LP4 loop between Asia and North Europe. The LP4 operates with 11 13,200-TEU average vessels supplied alliance members APL, Hapag-Lloyd, HMM, NYK and OOCL.
   The incident comes less than a week after the ultra-large containership CSCL Indian Ocean was refloated after running aground on a sandbank in the River Elbe five days prior. The 19,100-TEU vessel was headed toward the Eurogate Container Terminal at Germany’s Port of Hamburg when a technical defect occurred in its steering gear.