Port of New Orleans sues to secure Chinese-owned tanker after collision with cruise ship
A lawsuit filed by the Port of New Orleans seeks federal control of the Atlantic Asphalt tanker, owned by a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corp., after it struck the American Heritage cruise vessel, causing injuries and significant damage.
The Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans filed a lawsuit on Friday to ensure federal investigators can take custody of the Atlantic Asphalt tanker that lost steering and collided with the docked American Heritage river cruise ship on the Mississippi River. The suit alleges the tanker caused at least $1 million in damage to the port’s terminal, and a judge issued a warrant granting authorities control of the vessel.
All 197 passengers and crew on the American Heritage survived, though 32 people were taken to hospitals, including two police officers who were thrown into the river when the ship rolled. None of the injuries were reported as critical, and eight patients remained hospitalized the following day.
Coast Guard Captain Melanie Burnham said the tanker has been towed from the scene, but moving the cruise ship, which remains on its side against the terminal, could take weeks. The priority is the safe removal of the 60,500 litres of fuel on board. River traffic has been limited, but vessels are expected to resume upstream and downstream movement soon.
The exact cause of the steering loss is still under investigation, with the National Transportation Safety Board dispatching investigators to New Orleans. Passengers described the impact as sudden and severe; one passenger, Joe Knab, recounted the tanker’s horn sounding repeatedly before the collision and said he spent about 15 minutes in the muddy river before being rescued.
New Orleans Harbor Police Chief Melanie Montroll highlighted that the distribution of life vests helped prevent fatalities when the ship rolled into the water. The American Heritage was completing an eight-day cruise along the Mississippi River at the time of the incident.
The Atlantic Asphalt, a 160-metre vessel flagged under the Marshall Islands, is owned by Nave Shipping SA, a company registered in Liberia. Nave Shipping is a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corp., a state-owned Chinese conglomerate. The Chinese firm did not respond to a request for comment.