Freighter Freed

A Panamanian registered freighter carrying potash that ran aground between Germany and Denmark was freed by tugboats on Sunday and will go to a Danish port for checks, coast guard officials said. The 32,935-ton Friendly Ocean ran aground on Saturday west of the northern German region of Darss, in a narrow shipping area between Denmark and Germany where ships have often struggled with shallow waters. A German and a Danish tugboat freed it on Sunday morning, and the freighter will now make a stop in the Danish port of Kalundborg to see whether the ship sustained any previously undetected damage. The ship is carrying 30,000 tons of potash, an alkaline potassium compound often used in fertilizers. It was en route from Latvia to China, the coast guard in the German city of Neustadt said. – (Reuters)