Dock workers opening a container at the Mammoet Transport terminal in Schiedam earlier this month were surprised to see a ginger cat which had made the six-week crossing from Singapore.

Very thin and frightened, the cat was handed over to the local animal shelter where he was given the nickname Singapoes.

‘We are doing all we can to get his weight up,’ spokeswoman Eveliene Bax told the AD. ‘This cat has definitely lost one of his nine lives after making this crossing.’

The cat was able to survive because there was a small amount of water in the container, Bax said.