In International Shipping News 10/04/2017
The UASC mega container ship Umm Salal has been refloated and is en-route to Khorfakkan Container Terminal after it ran aground in the Malacca Strait two nautical miles off Port Klang in Malaysia.
The incident occurred shortly after the boxship left the Malaysian port in the early afternoon en route to Khor Fakkan in the UAE.
The vessel immediately amended its AIS status to ‘aground’ according to data from MarineTraffic.ocm, which alerted ships in the area to stay clear.
At the time, Umm Salal was aground near the heavily-trafficked shipping way, but it is understood that local shipping was not affected.
There has been no official statement from UASC regarding the accident and local authorities involved in the salvage operation have not commented on what caused the ship to run aground.
A few hours after running aground, the vessel was refloated by the Malaysian supply vessel Spica and headed under her own power to an anchorage near the grounding site.
It is understood that she was surveyed and cleared to proceed to the UAE.
Umm Salal has a container capacity of 13,296 TEU with 1,000 reefer points and was the largest container ship in the UASC fleet when she was launched in 2011.
Source: Arabian Supply Chain
