[Updated] Container Ship Stranded in UK Shipping Lane

A container ship adrift in a major shipping lane off the coast of Essex in the UK has managed to restart its journey.

Weather conditions were worsening when lifeboats from the Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) attended the scene approximately 20 miles off the coast, a key route between Hamburg and the UK on Saturday.

The crew of the ANL Warringa were eventually able to halt the vessel’s drift and get an anchor down near a windfarm. BBC News reports that one lifeboat remained on the scene awaiting the arrival of commercial tugs to tow the ship to port.

About midnight on Saturday, the ship’s engineers were able to restart the engines.

The 50,000 ton vessel, with a crew of 28, was on its way to Hamburg from Tilbury.

Photo: Sheerness ILB Eleanor
Credit: RNLI/Sophie Coller-Nielsen