A RESCUE operation was due to take place last night to refloat a ship that carries cars for Nissan.

The City of Sunderland ran aground on a sandbar eight miles off the coast of Norfolk early yesterday morning.

The vessel, which has a crew of 13, was on its way from Zeebrugge, in Belgium, to Teesport with a consignment of 642 Renault cars.

After it unloaded its cargo, the vessel was due to call at the Port of Tyne to be loaded with cars made at the Nissan plant, in Washington, Wearside, for delivery to Europe.

The 9,576-tonne ship became stuck at about 2.20am, and it was hoped that two tugs sent from Felixstowe, Suffolk, would be able to help the vessel refloat at about 5pm.

But a spokeswoman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said last night: "They are waiting until the next tide at about 10.14pm. They have a couple of tugs and they hope to pull it free.

"Possibly they could not get the tugs there in time to help free the ship earlier."

The vessel was not thought to be posing a pollution risk, but was listing ten degrees to port and being buffeted by southwesterly winds of force six to seven.

It is not thought any of the crew were injured or were in any danger, but air and lifeboat assistance was on hand in case they needed to be taken off the vessel.

It is not the first time the vessel has got into difficulty. It was grounded off Hanko, a port in Finland, on New Year's Day in 2002.

The vessel was on its way from the Danish capital, Copenhagen, when it was grounded in a blizzard, and was not refloated until January 3.