- A container ship near the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge in New York lost propulsion power Friday night.
- While the 89,000-ton container ship eventually regained control, it had officials on alert.
- Less than two weeks ago, a Baltimore bridge collapsed after being hit by a ship that also lost propulsion.
Maybe there’s something in the water.
New York avoided catastrophe on Friday night after a container ship lost propulsion near the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, WCBS New York reported. This was less than two weeks after Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after being hit by a ship that had similarly lost power.
“Coast Guard Vessel Traffic Service New York received a report from the M/V APL Qingdao around 8:30 p.m., Friday, that the vessel had experienced a loss of propulsion in the Kill Van Kull waterway. The vessel regained propulsion and was assisted to safely anchor in Stapleton Anchorage, outside of the navigable channel just north of the Verrazano Bridge, by three towing vessels,” The New York Post first reported the Coast Guard said.
The 89,000-ton ship, owned and operated by the French shipping company CMA CGM, required tugboat escorts to get to safety, according to maritime journalist John Konrad.
CMA CGM operates a fleet of 620 vessels, operating 257 shipping lines in 420 of the world’s 521 commercial ports, according to its website.
The Qingdao was repaired and left New York Harbor on Sunday morning, WCBS reported.
The incident comes less than two weeks after the catastrophic collapse of one of Baltimore’s largest bridges, which occurred after a Singapore-flagged cargo ship lost propulsion power and struck a bridge’s support beam. Six construction workers were killed in the collapse.
Representatives for the New York Port Authority, the Coast Guard, and CMA CGM did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
