A Cosmoship Management-operated container ship has been towed to Dunkirk after its main engine was damaged off the coast of northern France.
The 2,556-teu boxship HSL Nike (built 2005) reported the breakdown on Monday as it headed towards the port of Rotterdam.
It anchored off Cap Gris-Nez for a day of investigations.
With the weather worsening, the ship began to drift and dropped a second anchor, according to the French Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea.
Authorities called in a rescue tug that took the ship to Dunkirk for repairs.
The ship, valued at $22m by VesselsValue, had previously stopped in Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic before it broke down after crossing the Atlantic Ocean, according to ship tracking sites.
The Liberian-flag ship’s registered owner is Libra Seas, which the Equasis database lists at the same address as Greece’s Cosmoship Management, its technical and commercial manager.
German liner operator Hapag-Lloyd uses the vessel in its Caribbean Express Service linking the UK and Northern Europe with the Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Colombia and the US port of Norfolk, Virginia.
The ship’s classification society is Bureau Veritas, and it has protection and indemnity insurance from West of England.
Equasis data shows the ship has no detentions in its port-state inspection record. It had no deficiencies in a November inspection in Rotterdam.
The South Korean-built HSL Nike was sold for an undisclosed price in May, said VesselsValue.
Eric Priante Martin contributed to this story.
