A cargo ship lost some of its propulsion near the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge just weeks after the Baltimore bridge collapse, the US Coast Guard has confirmed.
The container ship APL Qingdao experienced a temporary loss of power as it approached the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge on Friday night, the US Coast Guard told ABC News.
The Coast Guard did not disclose the cause of the mechanical fault but the incident is under the spotlight after the container ship Dali experienced loss of propulsion and crashed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge less than two weeks ago. Six people were killed and the port was shut down after that incident.
Pole Star AIS data shows that APL Qingdao sailed from the GCT New York terminal on Staten Island at a speed of around six knots at 19:30 on Friday as it exited the Kill Van Kull and rounded Staten Island’s St George Terminal.
However, at a distance of around 3,000 metres from the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge it slowed to four knots at around 21:00. It then slowed to a near halt over the next 1,500 metres before diverting to safety after three towing vessels nearby helped to anchor the ship just north of the bridge, off Buono Beach.
Maritime experts told CBS New York on Monday that incidents like this were not uncommon for large vessels.
Retired US Navy captain from Staten Island, Lawrence Brennan, told the news channel that he knew the waters well.
"Rapid and successful response by the ship's crew and the pilot on board, and the assisting tugs came up a mile or two from stern, where they had left the ship when they were being the Staten Island Ferry Terminal."
Brennan said vessels could lose steering, power or propulsion and the loss of the latter was not uncommon. He said there were layers of protection in New York harbour, including the tugs that assisted vessels to navigate in confined waters.
He said the Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) in New York operated like air traffic control for the water.
"The New York VTS system is probably one of the more complicated and larger ones. Baltimore is a different size, different type of harbour, and it doesn't seem to have quite as, and I don't want to say good, but as sophisticated a system as we have in New York,” he said.
