Norwegian Dream Cruise Liner Collides With Containership

Passengers told of an impact like an earthquake Aug. 24 when their cruise liner and a cargo ship collided in the dead of night in the English Channel. "I'm from Los Angeles and I can only compare it to a 7.5 Richter scale earthquake. It was that violent," said Edna Mae Glikmann. Only three passengers on the Bahamas-registered liner Norwegian Dream, owned and operated by Norwegian Cruise Line, were injured in the collision, which left the containership adrift and ablaze in the Channel, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. Shares in NCL fell sharply on the Oslo bourse after the collision, even though the company said that insurance would cover the damage to the Bahamas-registered vessel and any loss of revenues. The Norwegian Dream, carrying about 2,400 mainly British and American passengers, limped into the southern English port of Dover about six hours after the impact that spilled four large containers onto the liner's deck. The passengers, who had all been taken ashore by midday last Tuesday, were just hours away from ending a 12-day European cruise when the ships collided at 1:15 a.m. about 20 miles northeast of the English coastal town of Margate. Meanwhile, people arriving for a cruise which had been scheduled to start on Tuesday were told the sailing was cancelled, but they would be accommodated on board the Norwegian Dream overnight before being sent home on Wednesday. Despite the accident, all restaurants and bars were operating, officials said. Helicopters, tugs, lifeboats, five merchant ships and the German frigate Augsburg stood by to assist the 17-member crew still battling the fire on the Panama-registered Ever Decent. Fifteen containers, some loaded with paint and paint hardener, were ablaze. "A noxious cloud of smoke is coming from the vessel and all ships are being warned to keep clear of the area," a spokesman for Dover coastguards said. "The containership is now upright after listing at about 40 degrees, but it is seriously damaged," he said. The Norwegian Dream's bridge was badly damaged and its bow caved in near the waterline. Another salvage tug with a specialist firefighting team on board was heading to the scene from Rotterdam. The spokesman said there were few details on how the collision occurred but that the fire broke out after the collision. "The winds were light...and visibility good," he said. The 52,090 gt container ship Ever Decent was built in 1997 and was owned by Evergreen Marine Corp. in Taipei. The 50,764 gt Norwegian Dream was built in 1992. - (John O'Callaghan, Reuters)