Why do we have large cargo ships that come and sit off Holden Beach a few miles out for days at a time?

Shane asks…

Can someone at WECT tell us why we have large cargo ships that come and sit off our beach a few miles out for days at a time? Our rental company gets tons of calls daily asking what the ships are doing there.

Shane, here’s what we found out. According to the US Coast Guard and officials at the State Port in Wilmington, there are a lot of reasons why a cargo ship might be parked off the mouth of the river. Petty Officer Rathbun says they could be waiting for an escort from the coast guard through the channel to a berth closer to downtown wilmington. They could be early, and end up waiting until another ship off loads and leaves before they can get into the channel. Another possibility is that they reached the area early, outside of the mandatory 96-hour notice they have to give when they arrive into ports. It could be any one of these reasons, or others. I think it’s safe to say though that they are likely waiting before they come into the channel toward the port or another berth.

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