Spanish Cargo Ship Aground Near Port of Lisbon

A Spanish cargo ship has been stranded at the mouth of Portugal’s Tagus River for more than a week after she ran aground while departing the port of Lisbon. 

The 118-meter ship, named Betanzos, ran aground at 1 a.m. local time on March 6 after experiencing a loss of power. The vessel had just departed the Beato Multipurpose Terminal, heading to Casablanca, Morocco.

The 7,875 dwt general cargo ship is loaded with sand.

All crew members have been removed from the vessel.

An operation to refloat the vessel was planned for high tide on Monday, however ship tracking data showed the vessel was still aground just after 12 a.m. on Wednesday morning.

The salvage so far has been hampered by heavy weather, but the vessel does not pose a major threat to the environment at this point.