On Sunday 20 July the Pelican 1 reported steering gear problems that subsequently led to a collision with another container ship the Maersk Bahrain.

Immediately after the accident the Pelican I reported a black out and damage in the engine room. The incident was quickly attended by tugs from the URS Salvage & Maritime contracting N.V. (a subsidiary of Smit) and Multraship Salvage B.V.

A dozen tugs from URS and Multraship pushed the Pelican 1 onto a sandbank immediately after the collision to avoid the vessel sinking and to remove her from the narrow and busy Nauw van Bath shipping lane. The crew of 24 was removed by Multraship's fast crew tender Multrajet. A small amount of marine diesel fuel escaped into the river as a consequence of the collision but there was no serious pollution. Meanwhile, the 2,328 TEU Maersk Bahrain reported that she was taking water in her fore peak tank but had managed to anchor off Flushing for inspection.

The Maltese registered Pelican 1 is 202.5m in length and can carry up to 1,939 TEU (20 ft containers). Salvage experts worked closely together with the Dutch authorities to formulate a salvage plan in order to minimise the risk of pollution and prevent further damage to Pelican 1. In view of the damage to the ship and the effects on stability, a decision was made to postpone refloating until all deck cargo was removed. The floating sheerlegs Cormorant was utilised to install messenger wires and lifting slings and the sheerlegs Matador 3 was then connected to the stern to stabilise and hold the Pelican 1 in position. Prior to refloating 317 containers were removed from the deck of the vessel using floating cranes and barges, and divers completed a full inspection of the hull.

Pelican 1 was finally refloated successfully on Monday 28 July by twelve tugs and a number of other salvage craft. The remainder of the cargo below decks is being removed before the vessel will be redelivered to its owners in Flushing.

Walter de Schepper, managing director of URS commented, 'This is the largest salvage operation in the River Scheldt for many years, and the fact that there has been no significant pollution and very little delay to traffic following a major collision is due to the speed of reaction and expertise of local salvage companies, and their ability to co-operate.'