Airbus wings ship Ciudad de Cadiz stuck on Dee estuary sandbank
Posted: January 30, 2013 Filed under: Aircraft Engineering/Manufacturing, Hawarden / Broughton Airport | Tags: Airbus, Broughton, Ciudad de Cadiz, Dee estuary, EADS, Engineering, Flintshire, Hawarden, Maintenance, Manufacturing, sandbank, Ship, Wings Leave a commentA ship which carries aircraft wings from Airbus in Flintshire to France has grounded on a Dee estuary sandbank after slipping its moorings in high winds.
The 23 crew aboard the Ciudad de Cadiz are waiting for tugs to refloat it on high tide.
Coastguards said the ship is in no danger after the incident off Mostyn port at about 13:45 GMT.
Airbus said it is not a safety issue and “is nothing to be concerned about”.
Its understood the ship was waiting to go into port to pick up wings made at the Airbus plant at Broughton for delivery to the company’s assembly factory at Toulouse in southern France.
The ship is one of three vessels used to ferry wings for the A380 Airbus super jumbo.
A spokesman for Liverpool coastguard station, which is dealing with the incident, said the ship’s agents had called in two tugs in an attempt to refloat the vessel at high tide between 00:00 GMT and 01:00 GMT on Thursday.
No lifeboats have been called out to stand by the vessel.
The coastguard spokesman said: “She’s not in any danger. She’s sitting on a soft sandbank and it’s a matter of waiting until high tide so that she can be refloated.”
Winds were gusting at 52 knots when the ship apparently slipped her moorings outside the port, he said.
Sourced from BBC Wales News
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