During the night of Tuesday, February 4th salvor SMIT succeeded in freeing the grounded crane carrier Zhen Hua 10. It took four attempts to refloat the 300m giant and required three local harbour tugs and a German, 19000BHP (219TBP) anchor handling tug. The carrier broke loose from the anchorage near Hook of Holland early last Saturday morning. The master tried to navigate the vessel out of shallow waters near the coast against Force 10-11 winds and 7-8m waves, but ran aground despite the efforts. The Zhen Hua 10 is owned by ZPMC (Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery), a producer of container cranes. At the time of the accident the vessel was loaded with several container cranes and destined for Rotterdam. IVW (Inspectie Verkeer en Waterstaat) are currently investigating the accident. No personal injuries were reported. If above slideshow is not working properly try refreshing this webpage. Pictures © Nells