Tug, barge collide with cruise ship in Key West
 

Tug, barge collide with cruise ship in Key West

KEY WEST, Fla. (Reuters) - A tugboat hauling a barge collided with a docked Royal Caribbean International cruise ship in Key West Friday, causing an 8-foot-long puncture in the ship's hull.

No injuries among the 2,040 passengers and 741 crew members were reported after the collision jolted passengers, many of whom were eating breakfast, on the Enchantment of the Seas as it sat at a privately-operated pier in downtown Key West.

"The ship is not in any danger. The passengers are not in any danger. We're welding a metal plate over the puncture," Lynn Martenstein, a spokeswoman for Miami-based Royal Caribbean, said. "This was a barge. They just sideswiped us and kept going."

The 916-foot-long cruise ship was expected to keep its scheduled departure Friday for Cozumel, Martenstein said.

The Coast Guard was investigating the cause of the incident, said Miami-based spokesman Ryan Doss.

The gash, 6 feet above the water line, is located in the hull's forward port side.

The tugboat, Huey L. Cheramie, was hauling a dredging barge that is approximately 80 feet long and 100 feet wide, Key West assistant city manager John Jones said.

The U.S. Navy is overseeing a $32 million, 18-month dredging project to deepen Key West's Outer Mole Pier shipping channel area. The project will allow the Navy to bring destroyers and other large ships into the channel.

New Orleans-based dredging contractor Bean Stuyvesant LLC was awarded the contract. A spokesman for the company said the tug was transporting a hopper barge to the dredge site when the accident occurred.

"We are uncertain about the cause of the accident and are cooperating fully with the Coast Guard and other authorities as they seek to make that determination," spokesman Greg Beuerman said in a written statement.


11/05/04 14:58 ET

Copyright 2004 Reuters Limited.

Re: Tug, barge collide with cruise ship in Key West
 

Whoops!!! :rolleyes:

Re: Tug, barge collide with cruise ship in Key West
 

Cheramie employs some top notch boat hands.I hate to hear that.

Re: Tug, barge collide with cruise ship in Key West
 

I heard it was R Trying to practice for the races :D

Re: Tug, barge collide with cruise ship in Key West
 

R may be joining the ranks of the outlaw performance next year...... we have his vest, helmet and throttleman all lined up!!

Re: Tug, barge collide with cruise ship in Key West
 

:rolleyes: Oh great... I'm getting on a cruise ship in 5 hours!!! :rolleyes: Thank God its not the one I'm getting on!!!

Re: Tug, barge collide with cruise ship in Key West
 

And until that comment CAP, you were going to be my Anchor....man :rolleyes: :D

dh, The thought won't leave my mind!!! :D :D

Re: Tug, barge collide with cruise ship in Key West
 

You are judged by the company that you keep.
:D :D :drink: :drink:

Re: Tug, barge collide with cruise ship in Key West
 

My Dad was in his 30' Wellcraft on the SF Bay, at night, when out of nowhere, a barge sideswiped him. :eek: The "brilliant" tug boat operator didn't have any lights on - neither on the tug nor the barge. He was lucky he wasn't killed. He didn't get hurt, and the boat did not sink. It did put a big hole in the side of his boat, though. The barge kept right on going. He called the coast guard on his marine radio, and they intercepted him. I believe the tug operator was fined, and, of course, had to pay for repairs.

Michael