A kamsarmax bulk carrier owned by Cosco Shipping Bulk was finally rescued by four tugboats on Thursday after nearly 40 hours of salvage efforts, ship agents said.
Having run aground in the Parana River early on Wednesday, the 81,531-dwt Cofco 1 (built 2014) was reportedly trapped in a shallow area.
According to Agencia Maritima Nabsa, it took four tugboats — namely the Brutus, the Albacora, the Coopor Estibador II and the Coopor Estibador II — to refloat the vessel.
The Cofco 1 was then towed to the Argentine river port of San Pedro for inspection by the local coastguard.
MarineTraffic data showed the vessel remained at anchorage as of Friday. No damage or crew casualties have been reported.
The 4,880-km Parana River runs through Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. It is an important transport route for agricultural products.
But this year low water levels have hampered grain transport on South America’s second-longest river.
In a separate incident on Monday, the Cofco 1 ran aground about 465 km up the river before being refloated by a tugboat.
The vessel is carrying 41,900 tonnes of soybean meal from an upriver Louis Dreyfus terminal to Denmark.
Aside from Cosco Shipping Bulk, another two subsidiaries of Chinese state major China Cosco Shipping have also been affected by ship incidents this week.
Cosco Shipping Energy Transport’s 308,600-dwt VLCC Yuan Hua Hu (built 2015) faced engine problems when sailing north-east of Port Elizabeth in South Africa on Monday.
South Africa’s Maritime Safety Authority called in two salvage tugs to rescue the tanker, whose crew members were reported to be safe without injuries.
Separately, a cargo fire was reported on the 4,253-teu containership Cosco Sao Paulo (built 2013) off Cape Agulhas on Monday.
The Cosco Shipping Lines-operated ship had to be escorted to a safe anchorage in Table Bay, South Africa.
It was reported the ship has lost some containers overboard, which could potentially pose a threat to traffic in the region.
TradeWinds has approached Cosco for comment.
