Cargo ship becomes wedged across Cambridgeshire river

The ship, called the Baltic Arrow, spent most of Tuesday wedged across the River Nene while tug boats waited for the tide to rise before attempting to refloat it - Cambs News/Bav Media

An 80-metre long cargo ship has been refloated after it became stuck trying to navigate a river in Cambridgeshire.

The Baltic Arrow was travelling from Riga, Latvia to the Port of Wisbech loaded with packs of timber when it got wedged diagonally between the banks of the River Nene.

The grounding was reported by the ship’s captain at around 9am on Tuesday. It remained trapped for most of the day as rescuers waited for the tide to come back in before attempting to refloat the vessel.

A port spokesperson said it was a rare situation for the tide to have fallen while the ship was pinned between the riverbanks.

Until high-tide later in the evening, the hull of the ship remained firmly in contact with the bed and banks of the river.

Spectators gathered along the riverbanks to watch tugs free the ship after it spent the whole day grounded - Cambs News/Bav Media

Images from later on Tuesday showed spectators gathered along the river to watch as two tug boats spent an hour slowly manoeuvring the ship, eventually managing to release it at around 9.30pm.

Some compared the incident to the 2021 grounding of a 200,000-ton cargo ship in the Suez Canal.

One person joked on X: “Fortunately, the River Nene carries a slightly lower share of global trade than the Suez Canal.”

The Ever Given, a 200,000-ton container ship, drifted across the width of the canal and became wedged diagonally for several days, blocking the global shipping lane and sparking fears of an international supply chain crisis.

Tugs managed to refloat the Baltic Arrow at high tide and send it on its way to the Port of Wisbech - Cambs News/Bav Media

The port confirmed a full investigation will be carried out to find out why the ship was grounded.

In a statement, they said: “All berths at Wisbech port are NAABSA berths which stands for ‘not always afloat but safely aground’ so technically all vessels ground whilst moored here during low water.

“The river bed is very soft and sludgy here and the vessel is designed to safely ground so we are confident of no ongoing issues.”

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