Norwegian Man’s Backyard Becomes Unexpected Port for 443-Foot Cargo Ship

Imagine waking up to a 443-foot cargo ship parked in your backyard. That’s exactly what happened to Johan Helberg in Byneset, Norway, when the NCL Salten ran aground just 16 feet from his home near Trondheim. The massive vessel, which veered off course in the early hours of Thursday, turned Helberg’s quiet morning into a surreal spectacle.

Helberg, who apparently sleeps like a rock, missed the entire incident. A neighbor’s frantic doorbell ring finally alerted him to the behemoth outside his window. “I had to crane my neck to see the top of it,” he told reporters, still processing the absurdity. The ship’s watch officer, a Ukrainian in his 30s, reportedly dozed off on duty, earning a charge of negligent navigation.

Luckily, no one was hurt, and the environment dodged a bullet—no oil spills. The only casualty? A minor wire on Helberg’s heating pump. This isn’t the NCL Salten’s first rodeo either; it ran aground in 2023 but freed itself. This time, high-tide efforts to refloat it failed, and the Norwegian Coastal Administration is now assessing the seabed for the next attempt. The shipping company, NCL, is cooperating with investigators.

Helberg, ever the optimist, isn’t sweating his oversized new neighbor. “It’s bulky, but it’ll be gone soon,” he joked, proving you can keep your humor even when a ship crashes your backyard barbecue.