cruise ship sinks antarctica

Cruise ship goes down off Antarctica

A Canadian cruise ship struck submerged ice off Antarctica and began sinking, but all 154 passengers and crew, Americans and Britons among them, took to lifeboats and were plucked to safety by a passing cruise ship.

The Chilean navy said the entire MS Explorer finally slipped beneath the waves Friday evening, about 20 hours after the predawn accident near Antarctica's South Shetland Islands.

No injuries were reported although passengers reportedly endured subfreezing temperatures for several hours as they waited in bobbing lifeboats for a Norwegian liner that took them to a Chilean military base in the region.

The Explorer struck submerged ice and began taking on water through its cracked hull early Friday, authorities said. Susan Hayes of G.A.P. Adventures of Toronto, which owned the vessel, initially described the damage as a "fist-sized hole," but the Argentine navy later said it observed "significant" damage to the hull.

The tour operator said the voyage was inspired by Ernest Shackleton, an adventurer who made repeated forays there in the early 1900s. Shackleton died of a heart attack aboard his ship while trying to circumnavigate the icy continent by sea in 1922.

Throughout the day, Chilean aerial photographs showed the ship listing heavily, its white superstructure and red hull starkly visible against the gray, choppy waters and overcast skies. The navy eventually lost sight of the ship and wreckage indicated it had gone under completely, according to a navy press officer who declined be identified in accordance with department policy.

‘The Explorer is not visible any longer’ "Our units in the area aren't seeing anything," he told The Associated Press by telephone. "The Explorer is not visible any longer."

Hayes said 91 passengers had been aboard, including at least 23 Britons, 17 Dutch, 14 Americans and 10 Canadians. The ship also carried nine expedition staff members and a crew of 54.

The group calmly abandoned ship when the captain's order came and pumps helped keep the ship stable for an orderly evacuation, Hayes said.

Arnvid Hansen, captain of the Norwegian liner Nordnorge, said his ship ferried the passengers and crew to a Chilean air force base on King George Island in Antarctic waters near southernmost South America.

"The rescue operation ran very smoothly," the 54-year-old captain told The Associated Press by shipboard telephone from the Nordnorge.

A U.S. woman said in an e-mail to family members that she witnessed the high-seas drama from aboard the Nordnorge.

"We were a rescue ship," said Jennifer Enders of Covina, Calif., who was traveling with her husband Robert. "It is really scary to see a ship sinking out your porthole. The people were in the water in lifeboats for 4 hours and it is cold outside. We were asked to donate clothes to those coming in from the lifeboats."

She said it was depressing to watch the ship listing "and lifeboats scurrying around collecting the passengers from the Explorer. Our ship stayed until a naval ship arrived."

Authorities said later that all the rescued passengers had disembarked at the King George Island base and were hoping the weather would clear enough to airlift to Chile's southernmost city of Punta Arenas on Saturday.

G.A.P Adventures is a tour company that provides excursions with an environmental focus. The Explorer was on a 19-day circuit of Antarctica and the Falkland Islands letting passengers observe penguins, whales and other wildlife while getting briefings from experts on the region.

Traveling to Antarctica is always risky, Hayes said.

"There is ice in the area. Obviously it's a hazard of the area. But it's highly unusual (that the ship would hit the ice). This has never happened to us," he said.

An Argentine rescue and command center received the first distress call at 12:30 a.m. EST Friday from the Explorer amid reports it was taking on water despite efforts to use onboard pumps, said Capt. Juan Pablo Panichini, an Argentine navy spokesman.

A navy statement said that the captain ordered passengers to abandon ship about 90 minutes after the first call and that passengers and crew boarded eight semi-rigid lifeboats and four life rafts, with the captain leaving the ship later.

In lifeboats in subfreezing temperatures A Chilean ornithologist identified as Paola Palavecino was quoted in an Argentine media report as saying she and others aboard went into the lifeboats before dawn and endured subfreezing temperatures for a few hours until they were picked up about 6 a.m. EST.

"The ship took on water quickly," she was quoted by the Argentine news agency Diarios y Noticias as telling a local radio station in a call from the Nordnorge.

A commander at Chile's air base on King George island confirmed late Friday that the Nordnorge had arrived in a bay near the base, but said waves and strong winds had prevented the passengers from immediately disembarking.

He said Chilean air force planes, weather permitting, would fly the survivors on Saturday to Punta Arenas at the southernmost tip of Chile.

An Argentine navy statement said the Explorer was about 475 nautical miles southeast of Ushuaia, the southernmost Argentine city and a jumping-off point for cruise ships and supply vessels for Antarctica. Seas were calm and winds light at the time of the accident, officials said.

Last Feb. 1, the Nordnorge evacuated 294 passengers, including 119 Americans, from a sister Norwegian cruise ship, the MS Nordkapp, which ran aground off a remote Antarctic island. The Nordkapp later pulled off the rocks under its own power and authorities said those passengers were never in danger.

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Cruise Ship Sinking in Antarctica; More Than 150 Passengers and Crew Evacuated

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – A Canadian cruise ship struck submerged ice off Antarctica and began sinking, but all 154 passengers and crew, Americans and Britons among them, took to lifeboats and were plucked to safety by a passing cruise ship.

The entire vessel finally slipped beneath the waves Friday evening, about 20 hours after the predawn accident near Antarctica's South Shetland Islands, the Chilean navy said.

Click here for photos.

No injuries were reported although passengers reportedly endured subfreezing temperatures for several hours as they waited in bobbing lifeboats for a Norwegian liner that took them to a Chilean military base in the region.

"The ship ran into some ice. It was submerged ice and the result was a hole about the size of a fist in the side of the hull so it began taking on water ... but quite slowly," said Susan Hayes of G.A.P. Adventures of Toronto, which owns the stricken MS Explorer. "The passengers are absolutely fine. They're all accounted for, no injuries whatsoever."

Throughout the day, Chilean aerial photographs showed the ship listing heavily, its white superstructure and red hull starkly visible against the gray, choppy waters and overcast skies. The navy eventually lost sight of the ship and wreckage indicated it had gone under completely, according to a navy press officer who declined be identified in accordance with department policy.

Click here for additional reporting from Sky News

"Our units in the area aren't seeing anything," he told The Associated Press by telephone. "The Explorer is not visible any longer."

Hayes said 91 passengers had been aboard, including at least 23 Britons, 17 Dutch, 13 Americans and 10 Canadians. The ship also carried nine expedition staff members and a crew of 54.

The group calmly abandoned ship when the captain's order came and pumps helped keep the ship stable for an orderly evacuation, Hayes said.

Arnvid Hansen, captain of the Norwegian liner Nordnorge, said his ship ferried the passengers and crew to a Chilean air force base on King George Island in Antarctic waters near southernmost South America.

"The rescue operation ran very smoothly," the 54-year-old captain told The Associated Press by shipboard telephone from the Nordnorge.

A U.S. woman said in an e-mail to family members that she witnessed the high-seas drama from aboard the Nordnorge.

"We were a rescue ship," said Jennifer Enders of Covina, Calif., who was traveling with her husband Robert. "It is really scary to see a ship sinking out your porthole. The people were in the water in lifeboats for 4 hours and it is cold outside. We were asked to donate clothes to those coming in from the lifeboats."

She said it was depressing to watch the ship listing "and lifeboats scurrying around collecting the passengers from the Explorer. Our ship stayed until a naval ship arrived."

G.A.P Adventures is a tour company that provides excursions with an environmental focus. The Explorer was on a 19-day circuit of Antarctica and the Falkland Islands letting passengers observe penguins, whales and other wildlife while getting briefings from experts on the region.

Traveling to Antarctica is always risky, Hayes said.

"There is ice in the area. Obviously it's a hazard of the area. But it's highly unusual (that the ship would hit the ice). This has never happened to us," he said.

An Argentine rescue and command center received the first distress call at 12:30 a.m. EST Friday from the Explorer amid reports it was taking on water despite efforts to use onboard pumps, said Capt. Juan Pablo Panichini, an Argentine navy spokesman.

A navy statement said that the captain ordered passengers to abandon ship about 90 minutes after the first call and that passengers and crew boarded eight semi-rigid lifeboats and four life rafts, with the captain leaving the ship later.

A Chilean ornithologist identified as Paola Palavecino was quoted in an Argentine media report as saying she and others aboard went into the lifeboats before dawn and endured subfreezing temperatures for a few hours until they were picked up about 6 a.m. EST.

"The ship took on water quickly," she was quoted by the Argentine news agency Diarios y Noticias as telling a local radio station in a call from the Nordnorge.

A commander at Chile's air base on King George island confirmed late Friday that the Nordnorge had arrived in a bay near the base, but said waves and strong winds had prevented the passengers from immediately disembarking.

He said Chilean air force planes, weather permitting, would fly the survivors on Saturday to Punta Arenas at the southernmost tip of Chile.

An Argentine navy statement said the Explorer was about 475 nautical miles southeast of Ushuaia, the southernmost Argentine city and a jumping-off point for cruise ships and supply vessels for Antarctica. Seas were calm and winds light at the time of the accident, officials said.

Last Feb. 1, the Nordnorge evacuated 294 passengers, including 119 Americans from a sister Norwegian cruise ship, the MS Nordkapp, which ran aground off a remote Antarctic island. The Nordkapp later pulled off the rocks under its own power and authorities said those passengers were never in danger.

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Why did an Antarctic cruise ship sink?

Big ice chunks, misjudgment, and faulty doors doomed the MS Explorer. New limits are set on tourists and cruise ships to the region.

• By Colin Woodard Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

April 20, 2009

The MS Explorer was purpose-built for the Antarctic, a nimble expedition cruise ship with an ice-reinforced hull that pioneered the polar tourism trade in the early 1970s.

But on Nov. 23, 2007, she sank in what appeared to be the most routine of Antarctic circumstances: cruising through young pack ice in mild weather.

The 154 passengers and crewmen aboard were plucked unharmed from open lifeboats by other cruise ships the following day, just two hours before gale-force winds struck the area.

Until now, the causes of the ship's sinking have remained a mystery, with her owners, Toronto -based G.A.P Adventures, refusing to comment beyond initial reports that she struck submerged ice and succumbed to uncontrollable flooding.

But last week the results of an official investigation became public. It places blame on the captain having misjudged ice conditions and the failure of one of the ships' watertight doors.

The report by the Liberian Bureau of Maritime Affairs , through which the Explorer was flagged, described how the ship was damaged after the captain attempted to plow through what one passenger described as "a long wall of solid ice," presumably a ridge of broken ice forced up by pressure.

The report – which vividly illustrated how a single misjudgment can lead to disaster in the harsh, poorly charted waters of Antarctica – made a series of recommendations to improve safety on polar cruises. Among them: that these ships carry at least partially-enclosed lifeboats and enough immersion suits for everyone aboard, and that training requirements for ice navigation be better spelled out. Currently, the International Maritime Organization doesn't have formal competency training requirements for ice navigators.

Mind the glacial ice chunks

A Chilean naval icebreaker that reached the scene shortly after the Explorer's passengers were rescued, concluded that the ship had not been traveling through a thin ice field, as her captain had thought, but rather an older, thicker field containing a mix of dangerous glacial ice chunks, some reportedly as large as 15 feet high with underwater rams as long as 45 feet.

The Explorer "sustained puncture and slice wounds" that extended for more than eleven feet along her hull and sank because flooding could not be contained within the affected watertight compartment, the report said. Crew members told investigators that a hatch between engine rooms turned out to have faulty seals, allowing other parts of the ship to flood.

The report concluded that Bengt Wiman , on his first Antarctic cruise as captain, "transited the ice field with an overconfident attitude regarding the capabilities of the Explorer and, in all likelihood, struck the 'wall of ice' at a rate of speed that was excessive."

Tighter rules for Antarctic ships

The report was released as representatives of the 45 signatory nations to the Antarctica Treaty were attending their annual meeting in Baltimore where they tightened some regulations on cruise ships. The Explorer report caused "a big shock" at the meeting, says James Barnes , executive director of the Washington -based Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition .

"There was great surprise at the realities revealed by the report compared to the information that had been available before from G.A.P., Chile , or Argentina ," Mr. Barnes says. "Everybody is congratulating Liberia for what is a most thorough report, but if the ship's owners had released this information right away, we could have gotten to work on addressing this 18 months ago."

Steve Wellmeier , executive director of the International Association of Antarctic Tourism Operators describes the report as "very sobering reading" which "represents a wake-up call for all of our members."

Ship owners dispute findings

But the founder and CEO of G.A.P. Adventures, Bruce Poon Tip, expresses dissatisfaction with the investigation. "We dispute pretty much everything in the report," he says, but declines to offer his own version of events or to respond point by point to the report's findings. "They are entitled to their opinions, but I am not interested in getting into an argument with a flag state."

Mr. Poon Tip says that Liberia's investigators had "come to these outrageous conclusions" without ever speaking with anyone in his company. On further questioning he concedes – and the report indicates – they had corresponded with G.A.P's attorneys and conducted telephone or e-mail interviews with some of the Explorer's officers and crew who no longer work for the company, including Captain Wiman.

Poon Tip does not directly answer questions about the causes of the Explorer's sinking, confining his answers to the quality of the company's rescue effort.

"We're very proud and happy about how it went," he says. "We got everyone out of there safely and everyone in the world has been nothing but complimentary about how the company handled the situation."

Praise for the captain and crew

The report also praised the captain for his decision to evacuate the passengers to lifeboats early in the incident, before the crippled ship drifted back into the ice field, where lifeboats would have been difficult or impossible to deploy. The chief engineer was commended for jury-rigging a fuel supply for an auxiliary generator, which allowed the captain to maneuver the ship into a position where the lifeboats could be deployed.

Crew members told investigators they called Argentine authorities three times for help, but were told each time "to call back." Fortunately, they were able to make contact with nearby cruise ships themselves.

There have been several serious incidents involving Antarctic cruise ships in recent years. In January 2007, all 371 people were evacuated from the MS Nordkapp after it ran aground. That December the MS Fram lost power and smashed into a glacier, forcing an abrupt return to South America . This past December, 122 passengers and crew were rescued from the MV Ushuaia after it struck a rock in Antarctica's Gerlache Strait. And on Feb 19, 105 people had to be rescued when the US -operated Ocean Nova ran aground in heavy winds.

Delegates to the Antarctica Treaty meeting approved a resolution that bans vessels carrying more than 500 passengers from conducting landings in Antarctica. In recent years, Princess Cruise Lines has sent its 109,000-ton megaships Golden Princess and Star Princess to the Antarctic, even though neither is ice-reinforced. Each carries more than 3,500 passengers and crew.

"If the Golden Princess struck ice and got in trouble, everyone knows that there isn't the capacity in Antarctica to deal with an emergency like that," says Barnes. "Those vessels should not come into ice infested waters at all."

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Cruise Ship Evacuated, Sinks Off Antarctica

The MS Explorer, a small cruise ship strikes an iceberg and sinks hours later in icy waters off Antarctica. All 154 passengers and crew members, Americans among them, survived.

Jon Bowermaster was a passenger aboard the National Geographic research cruise ship, The Endeavor, one of the first vessels to reach the Explorer. He describes the scene to Andrea Seabrook.

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Icy Rescue as Seas Claim a Cruise Ship

By Graham Bowley and Andrew C. Revkin

• Nov. 24, 2007

They were modern adventure travelers, following the doomed route of Sir Ernest Shackleton to the frozen ends of the earth. They paid $7,000 to $16,000 to cruise on a ship that had proudly plowed the Antarctic for 40 years.

But sometime early yesterday, the Explorer, fondly known in the maritime world as “the little red ship,” quietly struck ice.

There were the alarms, then the captain’s voice on the public address system calling the 100 passengers and the crew of about 50 to the lecture hall, according to passengers’ accounts on the radio and others relayed from rescuers and the tour operator.

In the lecture hall, they were told that water was creeping in through a fist-size hole punched into the ship’s starboard. As it flooded the grinding engine room, the power failed. The ship ceased responding.

“We all got a little nervous when the ship began to list sharply, and the lifeboats still hadn’t been lowered,” John Cartwright, a Canadian, told CBC radio.

About 1:30 a.m., the passengers climbed down ladders on the ship’s side into open lifeboats and inflatable craft. They bobbed for some four hours in the rough seas and biting winds as the sun rose and the day broadened, sandwiched between the 20-degree air and the nearly freezing waters, huddled under thin foil blankets, marking time. Their ship traced loose circles in the steely ocean.

And then a research ship and a Norwegian cruise liner that had heard the distress call approached.

“There was a long line of black rubber Zodiac boats and a handful of orange lifeboats strung out, and it was very surreal because it was a very beautiful morning with the sun glistening off the relatively calm sea,” said Jon Bowermaster, a travel writer and filmmaker who was aboard the ship, the National Geographic Endeavour, and was reached by satellite phone. “And all you could think was how relieved these people must have been when they saw these two big ships coming.”

A section of the Endeavour was dedicated to medical emergencies. But none were reported, and the Norwegian liner, the Nordnorge, ended up taking all the Explorer’s evacuees.

It was not immediately possible yesterday to reach the passengers, among them 14 Americans, 24 Britons, 12 Canadians and a smattering of other nationalities. But they were in good spirits, said Capt. Arnvid Hansen of the Nordnorge, who was reached by telephone about 10 hours after the rescue.

The weather had turned worse, he said, but despite snow and wind, the passengers had begun to leave the ship for the solid ground of King George Island. “They are healthy, no problem,” he said. The authorities said they would head to Chile on Saturday, weather permitting, and from there return home.

And so the 154 people who survived a modern Titanic have fallen into that strange category of luck — the kind that would not be necessary had not horrendous bad fortune preceded it.

The accident occurred well north of the Antarctic Circle in an island chain that is part of the Antarctic peninsula, which juts close to South America and where a sharp warming of temperatures has occurred in recent years. It is prime territory for a new travel industry catering to an often young clientele enthusiastic about the wild in an age of environmental uncertainty.

The tour operator, G.A.P. Adventures, is based in Toronto, and offers cruises to the Antarctic, Greenland, Scotland and the Amazon. It normally sends a dozen cruises a year into the Antarctic, all on the Explorer.

On the “Spirit of Shackleton” tour, the passengers stopped at the Falkland Islands and South Georgia Island before heading for the tip of Antarctica. Scientists on board give lectures on wildlife, geology and climate change. Their stops were to include the grave where Shackleton was buried after his fatal heart attack in 1922.

G.A.P. said it had never had an accident with one of its ships before. But in March, two Canadian women and an Australian man died after a safari van chartered by the company collided with a truck in Kenya.

The Antarctic adventure niche has its own trade group, the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators. Its members make up a growing chunk of the $21 billion cruise industry. But regulatory authority over its members can be as confusing as in the rest of the cruise world, with a network of nations, flags and maritime rules colliding.

The Explorer is registered in Liberia. Built in Finland in 1969, it was designed to operate in Antarctic and Arctic waters, according to a spokesman for G.A.P., Dan Brown. It was small, to move swiftly through dangerous waters, and had a double bottom, a second layer of steel.

But the vessel did not have a double hull, a complete second steel sheath, the kind developed after the Titanic sank.

There appeared to be questions about its safety record. Mr. Brown said “some deficiencies” were found in tests in March in Chile and in May in Scotland. On its Web site, Lloyd’s List said the British authorities had reported deficiencies, including missing rescue plans, and lifeboat maintenance problems, while watertight doors were deemed “not as required,” and fire safety measures were also criticized.

The ship later passed a safety test with “flying colors,” the company said, and Mr. Brown said the earlier problems “were not serious enough for the boat to be taken out of use.”

The Explorer had been in trouble before, struggling in heavy Antarctic seas in the same region in February 1972 when it took on water. The passengers, mostly Americans, were rescued by the Chilean Navy. The ship was refurbished and went on to become the first passenger vessel to navigate the Northwest Passage at the other end of the globe.

On this trip, it left from Ushuaia, on the southern tip of Argentina, on Nov. 11, and was to return Thursday.

But the Explorer’s fate was sealed by yesterday afternoon, after hours of listing, awash in ice floes. Even its captain and chief officer, who had stayed to operate the bilge pumps in the hope of salvation, had long before evacuated when the Chilean Navy said the little red ship had gone down.

A few hours before, Stefan Lundgren, a member of the Endeavour staff who had also worked on the Explorer, described watching the ship fade. “For me she was a beautiful lady — boats are ladies,” he said to a reporter aboard the Endeavour. “For every new owner, she gets a new face-lift. As an old woman, she’s a tough lady. She doesn’t want to give up, I can tell you.”

Reporting was contributed by Dorothy Spears from the Antarctic, Ian Austen from Ottawa, Pascale Bonnefoy from Santiago, Chile, and Michael M. Grynbaum from New York.

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Safety questions over doomed Antarctic cruise ship

Questions were being asked tonight about the seaworthiness of a cruise liner that had to be evacuated as it began to sink after hitting an iceberg in the Antarctic Ocean.

Two inspections earlier this year found 11 deficiencies with the ship, called the M/S Explorer, which is sinking near the South Shetland Islands, south of Argentina.

All 154 passengers and crew abandoned the 2,400-tonne vessel, which is listing 30 degrees to starboard, and were transferred to a rescue vessel, the Nord Norge, via life rafts.

One maritime expert said the incident raised concerns about the growing trend to run cruises "in increasingly exotic and remote locations, often in inherently dangerous conditions".

"There are many questions about the suitability of some ships to operate in such potentially adverse conditions, often well away from adequate search-and-rescue cover," said Mark Dickinson, assistant general secretary of the maritime union Nautilus UK.

Although all the crew and passengers were evacuated safely, Dickinson raised concern that the ship had old-style open lifeboats despite sailing in Antarctic waters.

" The vessel was not breaking any rules by having such lifeboats rather than the more-closed newer ones. But you have to question whether a vessel visiting icy waters with elderly passengers aboard was as equipped as it might have been."

An inspection by the British Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) in Greenock, Scotland, in May this year found the MS Explorer had five deficiencies, including missing search and rescue plans and lifeboat maintenance problems.

The ship was held in port until these safety concerns were addressed. An MCA spokesman, Mark Clarke, said: "These were not huge problems and were all rectified before the vessel sailed. It would not have been allowed to depart if everything had not been sorted out."

It is understood that Chilean port state control inspectors also found six deficiencies during an inspection of the ship in Puerto Natales in March. These included two related to safety of navigation matters.

Classification society Det Norske Veritas issued a passenger safety certificate for the vessel on October 21, the MCA said.

Susan Hayes of Gap Adventures, which owns the stricken vessel, said: "The ship ran into some ice. It was submerged ice and the result was a hole about the size of a fist in the side of the hull so it began taking on water ... but quite slowly.

"The passengers are absolutely fine. They're all accounted for, no injuries whatsoever."

Arnvid Hansen, captain of the Nord Norge, which rescued all those on board the stricken liner, told Sky News: "We were the first on the scene. Most of the passengers had thermal suits and lifejackets on. Everybody appeared to be in good condition."

Coastguards in Falmouth, Cornwall, along with services in Virginia, US, and Ushuaia, Argentina, are assisting with the rescue operation.

The MS Explorer was carrying a total of 100 passengers and 54 crew. As well as those from Britain, the passengers included two Argentines, 10 Australians, two Belgians, 12 Canadians, one Chinese, three Danes, 17 Dutch, one French, one German, two from Hong Kong, four Irish, one Japanese, four Swiss, 14 Americans, one Colombian and one Swede.

A Chilean air force commander, Raul Jorquera, who is based at an airbase on King George Island, said those rescued would be flown to Punta Arenas at the southernmost tip of Chile tomorrow.

The Explorer, built in 1969, is one of the best-known specialist cruise ships in the world. It pioneered the tourist market for Antarctic tours, taking in South Atlantic highlights such as the Falkland Islands and South Georgia.

The ship was on a 19-day circuit of Antarctica and the Falklands that included observing penguins, whales and other regional wildlife. Its standard two-week trip around the Antarctic costs around £4,000 per cabin.

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Are polar cruises safe? Not all ships are equal

The recent sinking of the MS Explorer cruise ship in Antarctica has spotlighted the dangers of operating passenger vessels in remote polar...

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The recent sinking of the MS Explorer cruise ship in Antarctica has spotlighted the dangers of operating passenger vessels in remote polar areas.

The ice-reinforced Explorer was a veteran of the polar cruise-ship trade. It had made dozens of voyages to the Arctic and Antarctic since 1969, safely transporting thousands of tourists to see penguins and polar bears, glaciers and icebergs, though the ship was evacuated at least twice after Antarctic groundings. The Canadian-owned ship sank Nov. 23 after hitting submerged ice. Its 100 passengers and 54 crew were all rescued.

But experts note that the crews of such ships must deal with floating ice, unpredictable weather and substandard nautical charts — all of which can create life-threatening situations.

“These are warning signals,” says Jim Barnes, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition. “You add up the incidents, and I think it’s clear that standards need to be strengthened to reduce risks to human safety and the environment.”

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Cruise-ship tourism has boomed in both polar regions. The number of cruise-ship passengers in Greenland has more than doubled since 2003, while Svalbard, in the Norwegian Arctic, has seen steady growth. In the 1980s, Antarctica often saw fewer than 1,000 tourists per year; this past season, cruise ships brought 37,552.

This year there have been several serious incidents. In January, 294 passengers on the cruise ship Nordkapp had to be evacuated after the ship struck a rock at Deception Island, Antarctica. In August, 23 tourists were injured — two seriously — when a piece of glacier fell into the sea, throwing a wave of ice and water onto the deck of the cruise ship Alexey Maryshev in a Svalbard fjord.

“These regions have harsh conditions, and if you make one small mistake it can have very serious consequences,” said Miriam Geitz of the World Wildlife Fund International’s Oslo-based Arctic program. “Now we see a lot of large cruise ships coming in the (Antarctic) summer that are not made for these areas. You don’t want to imagine what would have happened if the Explorer had been carrying one or two thousand people.”

Last year, Princess Cruise Lines caused a stir when it sent the Golden Princess, a 109,000-ton megaship with five pools and 16 decks, to Antarctica with more than 3,500 passengers and crew. Its sister ship, Star Princess, will return in January. Neither is ice-reinforced.

“It’s insane to be taking ships down to Antarctica that are not ice-strengthened and lack double hulls,” said Geitz, adding that large ships carry not diesel but heavy fuel oil, which causes far more damage if it spills. He supports recent efforts by The Antarctic Treaty Organization — whose 46 member states provide what little government the southern continent has — to require ships in the region to have reinforced hulls.

But those are no guarantee. “Any ship in polar regions can get itself in trouble if it operates beyond its structural strength,” says Claude Daley, a professor of naval engineering at Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland. “It’s something like driving off-road — there is always a bigger rock out there than the one you can safely drive over.”

Daley said compartmentalization of the hull — not its thickness — is the real line of defense against sinking. “There’s always something that can come along and bang a little hole in you,” he notes, which is why international regulations require ships to be divided into watertight chambers. It also raises questions as to how Explorer could have sunk from a single fist-sized hole, as initially reported.

The industry has made efforts to regulate itself. Members of the International Association of Antarctica Tourism Operators (IAATO) and the Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators (AECO) follow guidelines such as limiting the number of tourists landed in sensitive areas, and restricting proximity to wildlife and icebergs.

“The industry has taken responsibility … and imposed regulations that go far beyond the laws of the nations we operate in,” says Frigg Jorgensen, general secretary of Svalbard-based AECO. “When people experience these great wilderness areas, they understand the necessity of taking care of them.”

But some companies have declined to join. In Antarctica, Norwegian Cruise Lines and Discovery Cruises flout IAATO rules prohibiting ships with more than 500 passengers from conducting Antarctic shore landings. “We’re very disappointed that they’ve chosen not to cooperate,” says IAATO’s executive director, Denise Landau. “As soon as Explorer put out a distress call, we had three ships diverted there within a few hours, and that’s due to the close working relationship our ships have with one another.”

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M/V Explorer – Investigation into Sinking of An Eco-Cruise Ship

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An investigation conducted by the Liberian Bureau of Maritime Affairs into the circumstances of the sinking of M/V Explorer concluded that the decision by the Master to enter the ice field based on his knowledge and information available at the time was the primary reason why the Explorer suffered the casualty.

The Liberian registered cruise ship, which was on an 18 day round trip voyage from Ushuaia, Argentina to areas in Antarctica, sank on November 23, 2007 in a position 25 miles southeast of Penguin Island in the Bransfield Strait near the South Shetland Islands, in about 1,300 meters of water.  All 54 crew and 100 passengers were forced to abandoned ship into lifeboats and RIB’s and were later rescued by the Norwegian registered Nordonorge.

As stated in the investigation report:

[The Master] was under the mistaken impression that he was encountering first year ice when in fact,… [the ice] was much harder land ice. The ice pilot who made the assessment of the passenger video also believed that the ice was thicker and harder than the Master’s assessment… The Master of the eco-cruise ship M/V Explore r was very experienced in Baltic waters but he was unfamiliar with the type of ice he encountered in Antarctic waters. The Master should have altered course to open water and not have entered the ice field during darkness. However, once he had entered the ice field and approached the “wall of ice”, there is no indication that he reduced the Explorer’s speed as he approached and then made contact with the “wall of ice”.

The video referred to, to our knowledge, has not been made public by the ship owner.  The report went on to say that the Master and crew should be recognized for the actions taken to ensure the safety and survival of the passengers on board.

The Master’s decision to have the passengers abandon the vessel as well as the Engine Crews efforts to restore and maintain power so that the passengers could be successfully abandoned into lifebaots, in all likelihood, saved lives.

You can download the full report HERE , as made available by The Bureau of Maritime Affairs.

A couple items to note:

• The ship had controllable pitch propellers and at some point the control was lost putting the ship in full astern.
• It appears from the report that only one of the lifeboats engines was able to be started.
• There were scuppers in the internal decks (referred in the report as down flooding ducts) that sent flood water into the machinery spaces from the upper decks causing problems later on since the pumps could not handle the flooding.
• The Engineering crew really were heros in this whole operation by keeping the plant running, etc.
• The Captain seems to have intentionally left the VDR onboard.
• Progressive flooding through the ship’s sewage system made saving the ship impossible as every toilet, sink and shower drain started to back up.

The news reports at the time gave the impression that the ship was in mostly open water and just happen to hit some ice but as you can see from the photos in the report, the vessel was in ice.

Thank you to Fred Fry for help with this post.

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I jumped off a cruise ship in Antarctica and lived to tell the tale

I can barely breathe because of nerves … or is it excitement? Out across the bay, mountains thick with snow vanish into bleached skies. The sea glitters with ice.

I shrug off my robe, step out of my slippers and walk down to the water. The air is chill, the wet floor beneath my feet supremely cold. A small iceberg floats by and is soon gone, sped on by an unseen current. I shiver. No doubt about it, this is going to be cold.

There's no time to waste. With every ounce of courage, I run, jump and leap into the air.

Time slows.

Seconds feel like minutes.

Somewhere to my right is an inflatable boat and expedition crew, bundled up against the chill.

Mountains, icebergs, ice.

Then confusion as I go under.

A clanging fills my ears, the water so frigid, that I feel instantly disoriented. Everything hurts, the cold like a vice. It jolts me into action.

Surfacing fast, I swim with jagged strokes to where a ladder strapped to a pontoon leads from the sea up to our ship, Atlas Ocean Voyages ' World Voyager. The 198-passenger vessel's expedition team is standing by, ready to lend a neoprene-gloved hand to hoist me out of the sea.

For more cruise news, guides and tips, sign up for TPG's cruise newsletter .

For the past week, this spot has been our launching pad for adventures in the Zodiac inflatable boats. Kitted up in thermals and Atlas-issued lime green polar jackets, our small group of 10 has carved a white path through diamond seas, bound for icebergs, penguins and snow-covered islands. We've stared spellbound at crevassed glaciers bigger than a suburb and spied seals dozing on ice floes.

This afternoon is very different. One by one, we check off the hottest ticket in Antarctica — plunging into the freezing 30-degree waters of the driest, highest continent on Earth.

Related: The ultimate guide to Atlas Ocean Voyages sailings

The ultimate ice bath

I'm no stranger to ice baths and the health benefits they bring, from reducing inflammation to accelerating muscle recovery and switching off the "fight-flight" that can lead to high cortisol and stubborn fat.

I've braved Sydney's Bondi Beach in winter, taken regular cold showers and dived headlong into near-freezing waters at the North Pole — that one on a 15-day cruise aboard the new luxury icebreaker, Le Commandant Charcot , from upscale line Ponant Cruises.

  View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Belinda Luksic (@belindaluksic)

But nothing beats the heart-stopping chill of plunging into Antarctica's waters in late spring — or the camaraderie of sharing the exhilarating moment with 86 like-minded daredevils.

Navigating adventure

Just a week ago, 138 of us set off to Antarctica on the nine-night maiden voyage of World Voyager — fast-growing Atlas Ocean Voyages' third new ship in two years. Leaving Ushuaia, Argentina, behind, we met the roiling Drake Passage at peak shake, riding the churning 33-foot swell. In the days that followed, we staggered to mandatory safety briefings, polar boot and jacket fittings and gala dinners.

The more adventurous among us planned to kayak or camp overnight in the continent, snug in bivouac sleeping bags designed to withstand freezing temperatures. It's the kind of luxury that polar explorers of old, like Ernest Shackleton, could only dream about. Both activities came with a price tag. The polar plunge was free and open to all.

Related: Atlas Ocean adds expedition cruises to mainstream destinations

We moseyed around the South Shetland Islands, sidling into the flooded caldera of Deception Island. The active volcanic shield had erupted twice in the late '60s. At Pendulum Cove, the foundations of the Chilean research station were all that remained. An old whaling station haunted Whaler's Bay, our first sighting of penguins.

The spirit of expedition sailing

On the continent, the weather turned. Gale-force winds and heavy snowfall chased away blue skies and sunshine. Barrelling down the Gerlache Strait, we hit hurricane-strength 100-knot winds and a 16-foot swell. Wind-wracked, salt-lashed seas rose and fell.

On board, the tempest barely registered, ballasted as we were by the ship's twin Rolls-Royce stabilizers and the maneuvering of our Norwegian captain, Terje Ulset. I went to the gym and the sauna, watching the drama unfold through panoramic glass. At dinner, we lingered over cheese plates and dessert as waves rocked the ship. The Dome observatory lounge, on the top deck, was our port in a storm for late-night cocktails and cabaret.

As the wild weather continued, we pivoted. Landings were shuffled, and plans scuttled. First, the kayak, and then the overnight camp were canceled. The polar plunge looked set to suffer the same fate until day six dawned bright, white and promising.

The final countdown

We chanced frostbite on Cuverville Island, snapping photos of the cute gentoo penguins waddling to the summit. Come afternoon, it was Shackleton's fate we tempted, powering through fractured pack ice to touch the continent in lieu of a landing.

It wasn't long before the plunge deck was readied. We waited in the lounge for our group to be called, dressed in matching robes and slippers as if at a day spa. A pod of humpbacks entertained us. I watched the crew herd icebergs in the Zodiacs.

Down in the mud room, the excitement was contagious. There were selfies and laughter. People shuffled along in the queue, returning dripping wet and grinning. A belt was fixed to my waist, a tethering rope clipped to it before the jump. The ship's doctor stood by with a defibrillator (a precaution, I later discovered, rarely needed).

Related: I just spent the night in an igloo in Antarctica — here's how you can, too

World Voyager's godmother, Harpreet Kaur "Preet" Chandi, had joined us in Ushuaia for the ship's christening. Here was a woman who had skied solo to the South Pole, a two-month quest where winds howled and snow bit like sand. Did she have any words of wisdom to impart?

"Remember to enjoy every moment," she shot back with a smile.

I'm reminded of this as I stand dripping on the pontoon, the post-plunge high already kicking in. It wraps around me like a warm blanket as I do a victory lap onto the ship, cheers and applause ringing in my ear.

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LONDON, England (CNN) -- More than 150 people have abandoned a sinking cruise liner that collided with an iceberg in Antarctic waters, a Chilean navy captain told CNN.

The ship sent out a distress call at around 10 p.m. ET Thursday.

Passenger ship Explorer reported problems near the South Shetland Islands, south of Argentina. The area is in a sector of Antarctica claimed by the United Kingdom.

Capt. Carlos Munita of the Chilean navy said they received a distress call from the Explorer, saying the vessel had hit an iceberg around 10 p.m. ET Thursday.

He added a Norwegian rescue ship had arrived at the scene.

Tour companies describe the Explorer as a passenger ship which runs tours between South America and Antarctica.

Some 154 people are reported to be on board ship, which carries a Liberian flag, including 100 passengers. However the nationalities of those on board is not yet known.

Passengers and crew have been evacuated onto lifeboats, but the captain and the first officer are reported to have stayed on board.

"The great majority of people, including all the passengers, have been safely taken off the Explorer and are now being recovered by the first of the vessels to arrive on scene in response to the distress call," Dave Jardine-Smith, head of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency's (MCA) search and rescue team in England said.

• Antarctica: March of the tourists

"The passengers and crew from the Explorer have not been in lifeboats very long," Jardine-Smith said. "They should be, hopefully, in good condition. We are told that there are no injuries."

Earlier, Mark Clark, a spokesman for the MCA told the Press Association five ships were on their way to help the sinking vessel.

"She hit something and is taking on a serious amount of water, that is all we know."

The temperature in the area is said to be at around minus 5C, with a sea temperature at around minus 1C, forecasters told the Press Association.

Stephen Davenport, senior forecaster with MeteoGroup, said:"It wouldn't take long for hypothermia to set in at that kind of temperature in the sea.

"They do get very bad storms down that way, and gale force winds especially, because there is no land in the way," he told PA.

Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Sit tight, we're getting to the good stuff.

Danube river cruise ship crashed after it was 'suddenly no longer able to maneuver,' 17 passengers injured

• A cruise ship crashed into a concrete wall along the Danube river in Austria on Friday.
• A police statement said the ship "was suddenly no longer able to maneuver."
• Eleven people were treated at the hospital and another six suffered less serious injuries.

A Bulgarian cruise ship carrying over 140 passengers crashed into a concrete wall along the Danube river in Austria.

The incident occurred late on Friday in the northern Austrian town of Aschach an der Donau, local police said Saturday.

Eleven people were injured and taken to hospital as a result of the crash. Six others suffered less serious injuries that did not require hospital treatment.

Related stories

The ship had set off from Passau, a German city on the Austrian border. A police statement said that as the ship was leaving a lock chamber further down the river, "the ship was suddenly no longer able to maneuver," and its right bow and left aft crashed into the lock walls.

The second-in-command of the ship, who had been at the helm during the crash, "pressed the emergency switch, whereupon the electronics started up again." He was then able to steer the ship out of the lock.

The ship was later docked at the quay wall and emergency services were notified. The ship was able to continue its journey toward Linz, Austria.

Earlier this week, a container ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, collapsing a section of the 1.6-mile-long structure. The bodies of two construction workers were found after the collision, and four more workers are missing and presumed dead.

Citing the container ship's recovered data recorder, officials said the power went out on the Dali for just one minute and three seconds as it approached the bridge, Sky News reported, but that was enough for the collision to become unavoidable.

In 2019, a cruise boat hit and sank a smaller boat near Budapest, Hungary, killing 25 South Korean tourists and two crew members. The captain was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in the accident.

The Danube is the second-largest river in Europe, flowing from the Black Forest in Germany south into the Black Sea near Romania and Ukraine.

Correction: April 1, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated the year of the Danube ship crash in Hungary. It was in 2019, not 2023.

Watch: One of Europe's deadliest shipwrecks leaves hundreds missing

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Getting to Antarctica: The Pros and Cons of Flying vs Sailing

View of Ocean Adventurer from above. Photo: Judi Cohen

At one time, travelers could only reach Antarctica by ship from South America, and crossing the notoriously rough Drake Passage was considered a rite of passage for adventurous explorers. Although 90% of travellers to the Antarctic still arrive by ship, some cruise lines now offer the option of flying across the Drake, saving time, and reducing the risk of seasickness for those affected by rough seas. Choosing between an all cruise, fly/cruise or fly/fly expedition will be a personal decision. There is no right or wrong answer.

Helping your clients plan a trip to Antarctica and deciding between a fly/cruise, fly/fly, and an all-cruise option? Here a few things they should know, along with the pros and cons of each option.

All-cruise Most people who travel to Antarctica reach the Antarctic Peninsula on a cruise ship departing from South America. An all-cruise trip typically involves embarkation in Ushuaia (Argentina) with a two-day crossing of the Drake Passage between Ushuaia and the Antarctic Peninsula, and a two-day crossing on the return. Most Antarctica cruise itineraries are a minimum of 10 days.

While the Drake can have gentle swells of up to 10 feet, sometimes called the Drake Lake, it can experience waves of up to 40 feet, along with gale force winds, tossing ships from side to side like toys, and causing many people to experience seasickness for the entire crossing. When the Drake has these conditions, it's referred to as the Drake Shake.

All-cruise advantages

• Cruising along the Beagle Channel leaving Ushuaia, and during the Drake Passage, can offer a wildlife and birders' paradise with giant albatrosses and multiple seabirds, and often there are whale pods seen from the ship along the way.
• The two days at sea provide loads of time to attend lectures with the expedition team, subject matter experts, and scientists, ahead of arriving on the White Continent. Guests can also enjoy the time to decompress and disconnect from their normal lives since internet can be a challenge in the Drake.

All-cruise disadvantages

• On a 10-day itinerary, crossing the Drake takes up four of the precious days, leaving six days in the Antarctic to venture off the ship and onto the land.
• If you are prone to seasickness, four of the crossing days could be considered "lost time" as you stay in the cabin until the seasickness passes.
• For people looking for a shorter holiday, the extra days at sea equal more days off work.

Fly/cruise and fly/fly Fly/fly expeditions allow travelers to skip the two-day crossing of the Drake Passage, instead flying between Punta Arenas, Chile and King George Island in just two hours. A fly/fly Antarctic itinerary can be just eight or nine days.

For those wishing to cruise the Drake one way only and fly the other, some cruise lines offer a fly/cruise option. Such itineraries can be 10 to 13 days, or longer.

On arrival at King George Island a bus takes guests to the bay front where Zodiacs are used to transfer passengers to their ship. In the past it was necessary to walk from the aircraft to the bayfront, however, bussing is now more convenient. Once aboard their ship, the expedition leader will likely explain that it will be necessary to cruise across the Bransfield Strait overnight. Crossing from King George Island to the Antarctic Peninsula can be quite rough, and seasickness can occur. That said, the crossing takes only takes a night and by the next day, the waters are calm again. It is much easier and shorter than the two-day Drake crossing.

Fly/cruise and fly/fly advantages

• On an eight-day fly/fly itinerary, with the flight in each direction taking only two hours, passengers typically have five days on the ship to take Zodiac excursions and hike on land in the Antarctic Circle.
• Fly/fly options are ideal for those who are short on time but still want to experience Antarctica as fully as possible.
• Passengers do not have to stress about getting seasick over a two-day crossing of the Drake in each direction.
• The view from the plane offers breathtaking aerial views of the mountains, water, glaciers, and icebergs, and is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
• A fly/cruise itinerary provides the opportunity to experience the Drake Passage just in one direction and enjoy a short flight in the other direction. It’s the best of both worlds.

Fly/cruise and fly/fly disadvantages

• Weight restrictions on charter flights limit checked baggage to 15 kg and carry-on baggage to 5 kg. Packing light with only the essentials is critical. (One exception to this weight restriction is with Silversea Cruises, which offers business class flights between Punta Arenas and King George Island with a more generous weight limit of 23 kg for checked baggage and 8 kg for carry-on baggage.)
• Charter flights into and out of King George Island can be canceled and delayed due to prevailing weather conditions, potentially causing delays in departing from Punta Arenas to King George Island, cutting time short on the ship, or delaying clients' return home by hours or even days.
• Onward travel planning needs careful consideration due to possible delays. Clients should read the fine print in the cruise lines' materials and in their booking confirmations to be aware of contingency plans, delays, and cancellations due to weather.
• The cost for a fly/cruise or fly/fly itinerary is typically much higher than an all -cruise expedition, due to the use of charter flights and additional hotel nights in Chile.

Cruise lines offering fly/cruise and fly/fly options Several cruise lines offer Fly/Cruise and Fly/Fly options in addition to traditional all-cruise options during their 2024/25 Antarctic season. Note that some cruise lines show pricing for the cruise portion in Antarctica separate from the cost of the flight between Chile and King George Island. These include:

Quark Expeditions offer fly/fly itineraries between Punta Arenas and King George Island with trip durations between eight and 10 days. Pricing includes charter flights and a pre- and post-hotel stay in Punta Arenas.

Silversea offers fly/fly cruises, called Antarctic Bridge Cruises, using business class private jets from Punta Arenas.The line's cruises are of varying trip lengths onboard Silver Cloud and Silver Endeavour. Longer itineraries include crossing the Drake on the ship in one direction with stops in South Georgia and the Falkland Islands, with disembarkation in Puerto Williams.

Lindblad Expeditions is offering fly/cruise options starting in Nov. 2024, where clients cruise the Drake Passage aboard National Geographic Explorer and then fly from King George Island to Puerto Natales.

Antaractica21 offers four variations of its fly/cruise and fly/fly expeditions departing from Punta Arenas, Chile, onboard the Magellan Explorer and the Ocean Nova.

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News | Baltimore-bound cruise passengers arrive in Norfolk

NORFOLK — It is safe to say that most of the Carnival Legend cruise passengers did not think their vacation would end this way.

The sun had not yet risen as the cruise ship — which departed Baltimore’s port several days ago — docked at 4 a.m. Sunday at the Half Moon Cruise and Celebration Center. Downtown was quiet, many still asleep or attending a sunrise Easter service, as an impressive fleet of charter buses circled the cruise center. By 6:45 a.m., the ship’s passengers were working on their next phase of travel. For many, that meant a four-hour bus ride back to Baltimore.

Ships typically return to the port from which they leave, but when disaster struck midway through the cruise, staff had to work fast to find a port available to receive vacationers. The solution: Norfolk.

During the trip, officials closed the Port of Baltimore to all incoming and outgoing ship traffic after the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed early Tuesday morning when it was struck by a container ship. The bridge carrying Interstate 695 collapsed in moments, sending several vehicles into the Patapsco River.

Last week, Carnival Cruise Line announced the ship will operate out of Norfolk, and Royal Caribbean’s Vision of the Seas will do the same. Each ship can carry more than 2,000 people.

Lines of sun-kissed cruise-goers towing suitcases began to form as the sun crested over the horizon, many donning Carnival-themed attire and fresh sunburns.

The weather Sunday morning in the Mermaid City was likely much different than conditions they were enjoying in the Bahamas just days ago. Cab drivers parked alongside buses, waiting on customers, and some spoke to each other about how Sunday was likely to be a money-maker as cruise passengers opted to rent cars or fly back to Baltimore instead of braving the bus ride.

Sandy Crow, of Manassas, and her sister Kathy Grant, stood outside Nauticus, waiting for Crow’s husband to pick them up. Crow said she heard about the bridge collapse from another passenger.

“What a tragedy,” she said.

Crow said she has been to Norfolk before, highlighting the Norfolk Mac and Cheese Festival, and the two had been celebrating a sisters’ trip together over the past week. After finding out about their future arrival in Norfolk, Crow said driving home was the preferred option.

“The captain and the whole crew was so good communicating with us. Within a day, we knew we where were going to be. It was all handled beautifully,” Crow said. “It’s about three hours (to Manassas). It’s better than taking a bus for four or five hours, and then it would be another two hours. My husband just said, ‘I’ll just drive down there.'”

As cruise ships reroute to Nauticus, the Port of Virginia is ready to receive diverted cargo traffic from the Port of Baltimore. The collapsed bridge blocks the only channel in and out of the port on the Patapsco River.  The port will be unable to receive shipping traffic until the channel is cleared , and stands to lose an estimated $15 million per day in economic activity.

Some passengers who spoke to The Virginian-Pilot said they heard the news of the tragedy from the captain, and the crew handled it the best they could. Despite the tragedy, many said the trip was still a good one although it is ending differently than they had originally planned.

For other passengers, the trip does not even end in Baltimore. Jackie Plum and her family took their Spring Break trip out of Baltimore, but they are actually from Michigan.

“When they announced that the the bridge collapsed, I think the cruise ship handled it really well. They made it as stress free as possible,” she said. “We kind of changed our plans at the last minute because so (the reroute) is adding, like, an extra four hours to our drive. Now, we have to go four hours back to Baltimore and then eight hours to Michigan. We were trying to get off the ship as fast as we can, and at the last minute, we decided to rent a car at the airport.”

For the foreseeable future, Norfolk will be welcoming more passengers, including a Royal Caribbean cruise later this week on April 4.

“You know what? Stuff happens,” Crow said. “The only thing I’m upset about is people lost their lives.”

Eliza Noe, [email protected]

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Who owns the ship that struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore?

By Megan Cerullo

Edited By Anne Marie Lee

Updated on: March 26, 2024 / 5:05 PM EDT / CBS News

The collapse of  Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge on Tuesday after being struck by a cargo ship has raised questions about who owns and manages the ship, as well as on the potential impact on one the busiest ports in the U.S.

Called the Dali, the 948-foot vessel that hit the bridge is managed by Synergy Marine Group, a Singapore-based company with over 660 ships under management worldwide, according to its website . The group said the ship was operated by charter vessel company Synergy Group and chartered by Danish shipping giant Maersk at the time of the incident, which sent vehicles and people tumbling into the Patapsco River.

"We are horrified by what has happened in Baltimore, and our thoughts are with all of those affected," Maersk said in a statement to CBS News on Tuesday, in which it also confirmed the ship was carrying cargo for Maersk customers. The company had no crew or personnel aboard the ship.

The Dali, which can carry up to 10,000 twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs, was carrying nearly 4,700 containers at the time of the collision. It was operated by a 22-person, Indian crew. It was not immediately clear what kind of cargo the ship was carrying. 

Who owns and manages the Dali?

The Dali is owned by Grace Ocean Private, a Singapore-based company that provides water transportation services. The ship was chartered by Danish container shipping company Maersk at the time of the collision.

Synergy Marine, founded in 2006, provides a range of ship management services, including managing ships' technical components and their crews and overseeing safety, according to S&P Capital IQ. Its parent company, Unity Group Holdings International, an investment holding company, was founded in 2008 and is based in Hong Kong.

Where was the ship headed?

The outbound ship had left Baltimore and was headed for Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, Synergy Marine Group said in a  press release . 

How busy is the Port of Baltimore?

In 2023, the Port of Baltimore handled a record 52.3 million tons of foreign cargo, worth $80 billion, according  to the office of Maryland Gov. Wes Moore. The port is also a significant provider of local jobs. 

The top port in the U.S. for sugar and gypsum imports, it is the ninth busiest U.S. port by the total volume and value of foreign cargo handled. All vessel traffic into and out of the facility is currently suspended, although the port remains open and trucks continue to be processed within its terminals, according to a statement released by Port of Baltimore officials. 

What is the potential local economic impact?

Directly, the port supports 15,300 jobs, while another 140,000 in the area are related to port activities. The jobs provide a combined $3.3 billion in personal income, according to a CBS News report . The Port of Baltimore said Tuesday that it is unclear how long ship traffic will be suspended.

The disaster also caused chaos for local drivers. The Maryland Transportation Authority said all lanes were closed in both directions on I-695, with traffic being detoured to I-95 and I-895.

How could the bridge collapse affect consumers and businesses?

Experts say the bridge collapse could cause significant supply chain disruptions.

"While Baltimore is not one of the largest U.S. East Coast ports, it still imports and exports more than 1 million containers each year, so there is the potential for this to cause significant disruption to supply chains," Emily Stausbøll, a market analyst at Xeneta, an ocean and air freight analytics platform, said in a statement. 

She added that freight services from Asia to the East Coast in the U.S. have already been hampered by drought in the Panama Canal, as well as risks related to conflict in the Red Sea. Nearby ports, including those in New York, New Jersey and Virginia, will be relied on to handle more shipments if Baltimore remains inaccessible. 

Whether ocean freight shipping rates will rise dramatically, potentially affecting consumers as retailers pass along higher costs, will depend on how much extra capacity the alternate ports can handle, Stausbøll said. "However, there is only so much port capacity available and this will leave supply chains vulnerable to any further pressure."

Marty Durbin, senior vice president of policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said that the bridge is a critical connector of "people, businesses, and communities."

"Unfortunately, its prolonged closure will likely disrupt commercial activities and supply chains that rely on the bridge and Port of Baltimore each day," he said in a statement.

What other industries could be affected?

Trucking companies could be severely affected by the disaster. 

"Aside from the obvious tragedy, this incident will have significant and long-lasting impacts on the region," American Trucking Associations spokesperson Jessica Gail said, calling Key Bridge and Baltimore's port "critical components'' of the nation's infrastructure.

Gail noted that 1.3 million trucks cross the bridge every year — 3,600 a day. Trucks that carry hazardous materials will now have to make 30 miles of detours around Baltimore because they are prohibited from using the city's tunnels, she said, adding to delays and increasing fuel costs.

"Time-wise, it's going to hurt us a lot," added Russell Brehm, the terminal manager in Baltimore for Lee Transport, which trucks hazardous materials such as petroleum products and chemicals. The loss of the bridge will double to two hours the time it takes Lee to get loads from its terminal in Baltimore's Curtis Bay to the BJ's gasoline station in the waterfront neighborhood of Canton, he estimated.

Cruise operators are also being affected. A Carnival cruise ship that set off Sunday for the Bahamas had been scheduled to return to Baltimore on March 31. Carnival said Tuesday that it is "currently evaluating options for Carnival Legend's scheduled return on Sunday." The company also has cruises scheduled to set sail from Baltimore through the summer. 

Norwegian Cruise Line last year introduced new routes departing from the Port of Baltimore. Its sailings are scheduled for late this year. The company said the Key Bridge collapse doesn't immediately require it to reroute any ships.

Who will pay to rebuild the bridge?

President Biden said Tuesday that the federal government, with congressional support, would pay to rebuild the bridge.

"We're going to work with our partners in Congress to make sure the state gets the support it needs. It's my intention that the federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing that bridge," Biden said in comments from the White House. "And I expect the Congress to support my effort. This is going to take some time. The people of Baltimore can count on us though, to stick with them, at every step of the way, till the port is reopened and the bridge is rebuilt."

—The Associated Press contributed to this report.

• Francis Scott Key Bridge
• Bridge Collapse
• Patapsco River

Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News Streaming to discuss her reporting.

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How these cruise passengers missed boarding, got stranded in Africa

Both Americans and Australians were left at port after an excursion ran long.

After what seemed like a dream trip, several American travelers were left stranded at port in West Africa mid-cruise while traveling from Cape Town, South Africa, to Barcelona, Spain.

Jay and Jill Campbell told ABC News Myrtle Beach affiliate WPDE that they were in the first week of a three week voyage aboard Norwegian Cruise Lines when they stopped just off the coast of West Africa.

The couple and others opted to tour the nearby island of São Tomé and Príncipe on the afternoon of March 27, and when the excursion ran late, they said they brought it to the guides' attention.

"We were like, 'our time is getting short,'" Jay Campbell recalled, at which point he said the guide let them know, "'No problem we can get you back in an hour.'"

Upon their return, the passengers said cruise officials refused to let them aboard the ship, even as the local Coast Guard had ferried the group to the anchored vessel.

"The harbormaster tried to call the ship. The captain refused the call. We sent emails to NCL the customer service emergency number," Jay Campbell said. "They said the only way for us to get in touch with the ship is via email. They're not responding to our emails."

The Campbells say they were left stranded along with four other Americans and two Australians -- of whom one is a paraplegic, one has a heart condition and one is pregnant. Some did not have credit cards or medication that was left on board.

Cruise expert Stewart Chiron, known as The Cruise Guy, told ABC News that "the bottom line was, they were hours late, the ship was ready to go."

MORE: Norwegian Cruise Line passengers claim Antarctica voyage was rerouted mid-trip

"More than likely that the anchor was already up, and the ship was already possibly moving," he said.

He continued, "Any operation at that point to get these passengers back on the ship would have caused tremendous delays, and safety would have been a major concern."

In a statement to ABC News, a spokesperson for Norwegian Cruise Lines said, "On the afternoon of March 27, 2024, while the ship was in São Tomé and Príncipe, an African island nation, eight guests who were on the island on a private tour not organized through us missed the last tender back to the vessel, therefore not meeting the all aboard time of 3 p.m. local time."

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They continued, "While this is a very unfortunate situation, guests are responsible for ensuring they return to the ship at the published time, which is communicated broadly over the ship's intercom, in the daily communication and posted just before exiting the vessel."

The spokesperson added that the passports for the passengers who did not return at the all aboard time "were delivered to the local port agents to retrieve when they returned to the port, as per the regular protocol."

"Our team has been working closely with the local authorities to understand the requirements and necessary visas needed for the guests to rejoin the ship at the next available port of call," they said.

The Campbells said that their eight person group spent 15 hours traveling through six countries in an attempt to rejoin the Norwegian Dawn ship in Banjul, Gambia, on April 1. However, the ship couldn't dock due to low tide, so they are now trying to get to Senegal where the ship is meant to dock on Tuesday.

The Norwegian spokesperson said, "Unfortunately the ship was unable to safely dock in the destination due to adverse weather conditions, as well as tidal restrictions that require specific timing for safe passage. While we share in our guests' disappointment, this modification was made with great consideration for their safety and that of our crew, which is our top priority."

The cruise line contacted the guests "regarding this itinerary adjustment and provided them with authorization to rejoin the ship at Dakar, Senegal on April 2, 2024."

In light of the "series of unfortunate events outside of our control," the spokesperson said Norwegian Cruise Lines "will be reimbursing these eight guests for their travel costs from Banjur, Gambia to Dakar, Senegal" and are still in communication with the guests to provide additional information as it becomes available.

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In a separate, unrelated situation that took place coincidentally on the same day of the voyage, the spokesperson said, "An 80-year-old woman was medically disembarked after being evaluated by our onboard medical team, who thought it best that she receive further assessment and treatment as needed from a local hospital."

"In instances such as these, as the guest was released from the hospital and in a coherent state, our protocol is to contact the guest directly, as we would not have the authority to share any medical details with anyone else without their expressed consent," the spokesperson added, saying they worked with the port agent to receive updates.

"The guest has since been escorted on a flight to Lisbon, Portugal, and then put in the care of airport staff to continue her journey to the United States, where she has now made a safe return," they said.

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