Maritime expert says cargo ships losing propulsion is not uncommon
NEW YORK -- Just days after the Baltimore bridge collapse, the U.S. Coast Guard says a cargo ship lost some of its control on Friday night near the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.
On Monday, maritime experts told CBS New York that incidents like that are not uncommon.
In the wake of the Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore, incidents in the water are in the spotlight.
On Friday night near the Verrazzano, a massive container ship lost propulsion. Three towing vessels nearby helped to anchor the ship, just north of the bridge.
According to Coast Guard, unlike the Baltimore incident, the vessel did not lose power.
Lawrence Brennan is a retired U.S. Navy captain from Staten Island and he says he knows the waters well.
"Rapid and successful response by the ship's crew and the pilot on board, and the assisting tugs came up a mile or two from stern, where they had left the ship when they were being the Staten Island Ferry Terminal," Brennan said.
Vessels can lose steering, propulsion, or power. Brennan said a loss of propulsion is not uncommon, adding in New York Harbor there are layers of protection. Tugs assist ships to and from the pier, helping them navigate in confined waters.
Brennan also pointed to the Vessel Traffic Service -- or VTS system in New York. It's like air traffic control for the water.
"The New York VTS system is probably one of the more complicated and larger ones," Brennan said. "Baltimore is a different size, different type of harbor, and it doesn't seem to have quite as, and I don't want to say good, but as sophisticated a system as we have in New York."
CBS News' national investigative team looked into bridge safety and found that more than 4,000 allow ships to go under them. About 1 in 3 have so-called "functional pier protection." It's unclear what the protection is, or what kind of hit the bridges can take.
