A Norwegian man has spoken of the “unreal” moment he woke up to discover that a 135-metre container ship had crashed into his front garden.

The cargo vessel, the NCL Salten, had run aground just before 5am on Thursday after entering the Trondheim fjord on its way to the western town of Orkanger.

An astonished neighbour watched as the ship, which was travelling at about 16 knots (approximately 30km/h), headed straight for the shore into Johan Helberg’s garden, narrowly missing his house.

Helberg, who lives in Byneset, near Trondheim, awoke to his neighbour ringing his doorbell. He looked out of his window to see the ship’s bow.

“I went to the window and was quite astonished to see a big ship,” Helberg told the Guardian. “I had to bend my neck to see the top of it. It was so unreal.”

Brings new meaning to “shipyard.”