NEAH BAY — A rescue tugboat escorted a 540-foot container ship into Port Angeles Harbor on Thursday after the ship suffered engine problems near the mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

The German-flagged Buxsund had departed Vancouver, British Columbia, for Japan late Wednesday, state Department of Ecology spokeswoman Mary-Ellen Voss said.

At 2:34 a.m. Thursday, the container ship’s crew informed U.S. Coast Guard Puget Sound Vessel Traffic Service in Seattle it was shutting down the main engine because of a cooling problem, Voss said.

At the time, the Buxsund, operated by NSB Reiseb|ro GmbH of Bremen, Germany, was 10 miles east of the mouth of the Strait in Canadian waters.

Winds were calm.

Coast Guard officials alerted the state-funded rescue tug Jeffrey Foss — on station in Neah Bay while the regular tug Barbara Foss undergoes maintenance — to stand by, she said.

The replacement tug is slightly smaller than the 126-foot Barbara Foss.

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