A large container ship required assistance from tugboats Friday evening after coming to a stop in waters near New York Harbor due to an engine failure.
The 1,145-foot vessel, the APL Qingdao, lost power in the Kill Van Kull channel, a 3-mile-long, 1,000-feet-wide shipping strait between the Staten Island, New York, and Bayonne, New Jersey—which connects Newark Bay and Upper New York Bay.
The Coast Guard said it was alerted about the incident at around 8:30 p.m.
The 1,145-foot vessel was able to regain propulsion, but three tugboats assisted it as a routine safety measure, the Coast Guard told The Independent.
The three towing vessels escorted the APL Qingdao eastward out of the busy Kill Van Kull waterway and then south to anchor in Stapleton Anchorage, just north of the Verrazano-Narrows bridge in Brooklyn, NY., where the engine issue was further inspected.
The Coast Guard clarified that the cargo ship experienced a “loss of propulsion,” causing it to come to a halt, not a “loss of power,” which might have shut down all of its systems, including rudders, etc.
The APL Qingdao is registered in Malta and is owned and operated by CMA CGM, a large French shipping company.
Back at Sea
On Sunday, CBS reported that repairs had been successful, and the ship had left New York’s harbor in the morning. According to ship-tracking service VesselFinder.com, the APL Qingdao reached Norfolk, Virginia, Monday morning,
The episode evokes the catastrophic collision that happened in Baltimore Harbor last month. Another container ship lost control after an apparent power outage and hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing it to collapse.
Six construction workers who were doing maintenance work died during the accident, the precise cause of which remains yet to be determined.
John Konrad, CEO of gCaptain, a maritime industry publication, commented on recent events on social media platform X.
“One major difference between Baltimore and New York is the US Coast Guard operates Vessel Traffic Service in NY,” he said. “VTS is like air traffic control. They monitor all ships and tugs and can respond quickly to emergencies.”
According to the Coast Guard, only 12 ports in the U.S. have a VTS service.
Broader Safety Concerns
After it was reported that the ship had resumed its voyage, Mr. Konrad argued that several questions remained unanswered.
“Did the French mega-conglomerate @cmacgm owner send representatives to investigate?” he asked on X early Monday morning.
“Will the [Coast Guard] release the ship inspection report? Did the [Coast Guard] get the black box VDR so we can learn lessons on what was done right? Will the NTSB investigate or write a report?”
Mr. Konrad then pointed a finger at Washington, scrutinizing both its maritime police and the response to recent events.
“Has [U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg] ordered [the U.S. Maritime Administration] to conduct a study of ship power outages nationwide?” and “Will the Congressional Research Service conduct a study of the consequences of decreased Coast Guard and [the U.S. Maritime Administration] funding to our ports?” were two of the questions that he asked.
“It’s been two weeks since the Baltimore bridge disaster and,” he continued, “as far as I know, the answer to all the above questions is: NO.”
Mr. Konrad further deplored successive cuts to maritime regulators over multiple administrations.
