to hit the Northeastern United States in years.

The storm, which peaked on December 11, featured 60-mile-per-hour winds which gusted to 90 miles per hour, extremely high tides, and 30-foot seas.

It had serious effects on at least two cargo ships and delayed the loading of the Oleander at Port Elizabeth, New Jersey.

The US insurance industry, which had already suffered record losses this year as a result of Hurricane Andrew, expected to lose millions more due to the storm, according to a report in the Journal of Commerce.

The MSC Chiara , a Panamanian container ship, ran aground off Massachusetts, and 33 crew members had to be rescued, the report said.

The 682-foot ship, which carried fuel, listed badly after sustaining two holes in its starboard midsection, but no spill was detected.

And off Virginia, the 690-foot freighter Cape Hudson was set adrift when its tow line to a tugboat snapped. She nearly ran aground and spilled her 400,000-gallon fuel supply in shallow water close to shore, a US Coast Guard spokesman said.

At Port Elizabeth, the container ship Oleander arrived on December 10 after leaving Bermuda one day early, said a spokesman for Container Ship Management Ltd.

Crews partially loaded the largest container ship serving the Island that day, but the winds were blowing so hard on December 11 they could not finish the job, and loading had to resume on December 12.

The container ship Bermuda Islander also felt the effects of the storm near New Jersey, said a spokesman for Meyer Agencies Ltd.

GALES HIT PORT -- A fierce storm that recently hit the Northeast US disrupted shipping schedules in Bermuda, among other ports. This photograph was taken on December 11 from the bridge of the Oleander , which had to sit in port 24 hours before crews could finish loading.