Update: No Significant Damage on Maersk Garonne

Container ship Maersk Garonne, which ran aground while entering the Fremantle Inner Harbour on February 28th, departed from Fremantle for Melbourne at 11 am today local time.

An underwater hull inspection conducted by divers while the ship was at anchor found no significant damage, Fremantle Spokesperson told World Maritime News. As a result, the ship was cleared for departure.

The 62,000-tonne Maersk Garonne grounded outside Fremantle harbour in soft sand during its pilotage into the port.

The ship was refloated on the same day with the help of three tugs and taken to a nearby anchorage. The ship was moved to Berth 8 on North Quay on March 1st for cargo unloading and left Fremantle earlier today.

No pollution or injuries were reported.

The incident is being investigated by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), which attributed the occurrence with “serious incident” category.

World Maritime News Staff