Repairs taking place to flooded engine room
Largest maersk ship out of action for months
The damage to the ship enabled sea water to flood the engine room on February 1st, along the Panama Canal. Investigation is ongoing to establish what caused the problem in the first place.
Several propeller blades have broken off and the propeller mounting has suffered severe damage, resulting in a crack in the forward stern thruster tunnel that caused the flooding, Palle Laursen, head of Ship Management said. The stern thruster, used for improving vessel maneuverability, consists of a shaft tunnel fitted with a propeller delivering sideway thrust.
Laursen said the vessel had just begun its southbound voyage through the Suez Canal en route to Asia. The captain decided to terminate the planned voyage and the ship was towed to the nearby Suez Canal Container Terminal.
The initial assessment suggests, however, that there was no danger of sinking and there are no signs of pollution having been caused.
Source: malaya.com.ph
