An independent family business offering boat trips around a Suffolk harbour and nearby coastline has been boosted by the demand from visitors to see a new marine attraction.

Over the last few months some of the world’s largest container ships have anchored off the Suffolk coast.

With the Southwold Anchorage becoming a popular stopping off point for numerous giant vessels as they wait to dock at Hamburg in Germany, the latest to be spotted last month off the coast between Lowestoft and Southwold was HMM Stockholm.

%image(14731658, type="article-full", alt="HMM Stockholm spotted at anchor off Lowestoft and Southwold.")

Sightings of the vessels have attracted a lot of attention - and HMM Stockholm has now become something of a tourist attraction, with holidaymakers and locals being given a close-up view of the giant vessel.

The 400-metre-long container ship arrived on August 27, with marine websites indicating that it would be at anchor until heading for Hamburg in Germany tomorrow (September 16) - however the Panama-registered ship will now dock at the port on the Elbe River on September 19.

%image(14731659, type="article-full", alt="Mr Aldous said the abandoned boats "pose a risk to other vessels going to ports along the coast".")

In recent days Lowestoft-based boat trip company Jet Adventures have given visitors the chance "to get up close and personal" by taking visitors on two trips out to get a closer look at HMM Stockholm, which is anchored 10 miles off the coast.

Jet Adventures was founded in Lowestoft in May last year by director and skipper John Kitching, 58.

They operate a nine metre rigid inflatable boat powered with a jet drive and now launch from Lowestoft's Heritage Quay on South Pier.

Mr Kitching said: "Since moving here business has been good.

"In fact, during August, we had to turn some people away as all our trips were full.

"Trips to see the container ship have been popular.

"We could have put more trips on if the weather had suited better.

"It is difficult to know how long the ships are going to stay and we believe there is another couple likely to anchor in the coming weeks.

“We don’t know how long they will be here or whether the weather conditions will be suitable at the time - so, we have a waiting list for people to put their names down for future trips and we will advertise on social media when one arrives so that people can take a trip out."

Popular anchorage

The Southwold Anchorage has proved to be a popular stopping off point for some of the largest container ships in the world, as overcrowded container terminals across Europe continue to spark delays.

Container ship HMM Stockholm is owned by the South Korean Shipping Company and is one of 12 in the fleet which contain some of the largest container ships in the world.

The ship, which was built in 2020 and has a tonnage of 229039, sailed from Antwerp laden with a cargo of containers to the current anchorage.

It comes after three other large container ships ‘Mol Truth', 'Mol Trust' and 'Eleonora Maersk’ had been spotted clearly visible on the horizon off Lowestoft in recent weeks.

‘Mol Truth’ arrived at the Southwold Anchorage on June 10, ‘Mol Trust’ arrived on June 18 and 'Eleonora Maersk' arrived on August 3, with their arrivals initially puzzling locals as to the reason.

But with the Port of Hamburg's operations having been hindered by delays for much of this year, it has led to several large container ships anchoring off Suffolk as a result.

As well as the container ships off Lowestoft, there are currently four large oil and chemical tankers that are also situated at the Southwold anchorage.