If the bad weather persists, the Panamanian cargo ship named "Modern Express" might hit the coast of France between Monday night and Tuesday morning the GCaptain reports. Modern Express of the Panamanian Pure Car Truck Carrier (PCTC) sent a distress call on Tuesday, listing a malfunction that led to the rescue operation of all 22 crew members on board.

All efforts were made in order to bring the ship to its right track. However, the weather condition made it impossible for salvors to complete the mission. On Friday, a helicopter dropped four men to secure the boat to no avail. By night time, they were still unable to put the towing line that could help secure the tilting ship.

CIDO Shipping, the owner of Modern Express has sought the help of SMIT Salvage in order to save what's left of the cargo ship. Recently, two tug boats mainly, the Abeille Bourbon (a French Emergency tug boat) and the French Navy frigate Primauguet were already installed near the premises of the incident. Along with the two tug boats is a Lynx Helicopter.

According to BBC, the cargo ship contains at least 3,600 tonnes of logs and construction materials when it started to tilt along the French waters. The latest report has been of the ship tilting to at least 40 to 50 degrees.

Atlantic Maritime Prefecture's Emmanuel de Oliveira said it is "totally impossible to put the cargo ship upright." According to the GCaptain, the Panamanian PCTC is currently drifting the French ocean at 1 to 3 knots in speed. After the unsuccessful Friday attempt, another team was brought to the ship in order to prepare it for towing.

Because of the poor weather condition in the vicinity, any attempt to secure the ship will have to wait until a better weather presents itself. The Modern Express which also carries 300 tons of fuel might hit the shoreline near Landes, said to be sandy and safer for the ship. The fuel is currently intact and no signs of leaks have been recorded.

On Sunday, the ship was located somewhere around 50 nautical miles, West of Arcachon and has been weathering winds of up to 80km/h.

Officials concluded that the apparent distress has been caused by the cargo shifting irregularly due to the bad weather condition.