As we were preparing to go to print news came in of a shipping disaster on a well-known reef in the Red Sea. A large container ship, the CSCL Hamburg, was grounded on 31 December on Woodhouse Reef in the Straits of Tiran near Sharm el Sheikh, a popular site for divers.
The 4,250TEU vessel had visited the ports of Jeddah and Aqaba en route for Singapore when it hit the reef and ran aground.
The CSCL Hamburg, which sails under the Hong Kong flag, belongs to Seaspan Corporation. They have reported that there were no personnel injuries or oil pollution as a result of the incident. They are working with the Egyptian authorities to inspect the damage to the vessel which they will try to refloat. While there have been assurances that there is no oil pollution as a result of this grounding, there has been no mention of the potential damage to the coral reef on which the vessel currently sits.
In March 2008 this vessel was involved in another accident en route from Honk King to Shanghai when it collided with a bulk carrier, the Lian Hua Feng. Although on this occasion the CSCL Hamburg sustained hull damage there was no personnel injury or pollution.
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