LONDON—The Indian Ocean container ship stuck in the Elbe River for more than five days is afloat again after a third attempt to rescue the vessel succeeded overnight.

Five tugs towed the 1,300 foot long cargo ship, one of the world's biggest, to the busy port of Hamburg after a 20-minute rescue operation which began at about 2 a.m. local time, Germany's Central Command for Maritime Emergencies said Tuesday.

Ship traffic in the shipping lanes outside Hamburg was briefly​ halted while the salvage operations, involving 12 tugs altogether, took place.

German officials worked through the weekend to pump fuel from the ship and dredge part of the river while taking advantage of a high tide​ overnight after two attemptsâ < last weekâ < to free the vessel​ failed.

The Hong Kong-flagged Indian Ocean—about as long as the Empire State Building is tall—was delivered to Chinese shipping major China Shipping Container Lines Co., or CSCL, just two months ago. It was en route to Hamburg from the English port of Felixstowe when the accident occurred, around 10 p.m. Wednesday.

Built by South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., the Indian Ocean is the first vessel in the giant Triple-E class to run aground since their introduction in 2013. The behemoths, which feature state-of-the-art navigation systems and modern engines, can haul more than 19,000 containers.

At a cost of $160 million each, Triple-E vessels are used exclusively by the 15 biggest container operators on the Asia-to-Europe ocean trade route, the world's busiest.

People involved with the matter said the Indian Ocean suffered a failure in its steering gear and propulsion systems.

The German agency overseeing the salvage operation said all systems onboard were running fine overnight and the ship's rudder was in full operation.

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Write to Robert Wall at robert.wall@wsj.com and Costas Paris at costas.paris@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 09, 2016 06:35 ET (11:35 GMT)