An ocean tug out of Dutch Harbor, Alaska, has reached a Maersk container ship that has been broken down in the Pacific Ocean for more than two weeks.
At last update, the vessel was located about 650 miles off Dutch Harbor.
Maersk reports that the MV Maersk Eureka was forced to shut down its main engine on March 12 to replace a damaged fuel pump while en route to Long Beach.
Although the vessel was initially able to continue its voyage, the main engine had to be shut down again on March 14 and the 366-meter vessel has been adrift ever since, as the crew fears that restarting the engine could cause further damage.
An update from Maersk on Tuesday said a tug is now with the vessel and the Eureka’s cargo remains stable and safe. In an earlier update on March 22, all reefer containers were with power.
The tug arrived over the weekend with a team of engineers and repair parts. Maersk said it expects a progress report from the team on Wednesday, at which time it will have a better indication of when the vessel will arrive in Long Beach.
For now, repairs are expected to continue and the weather remains favorable as Maersk continues with its contingency plan.
Built in 2012, the Maersk Eureka has a cargo capacity of 13,100 twenty-foot equivalent containers and is registered in Singapore.
The vessel is operated on Maersk’s Transpacific 3/MSC’s Sequoia service connecting Ningbo and Shanghai, China, with Long Beach, although AIS shows the Eureka last departed Yokohama, Japan, on March 6.
The Maersk Eureka incident is now at least the third involving a Maersk vessel in as many months on the transpacific route. Previously, the Maersk Essen and Maersk Eindenhoven lost hundreds of containers overboard after encountering adverse weather conditions during their recent Pacific voyages in January and February, respectively.
Late last year, on December 20, the 370-meter Maersk Elba was disabled off the southern coast of Portugal after an engine room fire. The ship was two miles offshore when it anchored and was eventually towed to Algeciras, Spain.
