Cargo ship stalled near bridge on NY-NJ border, had to be towed for repairs, officials say

A container ship slowed to a halt after losing propulsion near New York's longest suspension bridge Friday night, officials said.

The U.S. Coast Guard said it received reports around 8:30 p.m. Friday that the M/V APL Qingdao lost its ability to propel in the Kill Van Kull Waterway, the strait between New York and New Jersey.

The boat regained propulsion shortly after, but was then towed to the Stapleton Anchorage, just north of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, where it received an order to fully repair the propulsion system before it continued on its route, the Coast Guard said in its emailed statement Monday.

According to VesselFinder.com, the APL Qingdao was built in 2012 and is registered to Triton Shipping, which did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment. The boat left Sunday morning, and the tracking website shows the ship was scheduled to arrive in Norfolk, Virginia Monday morning.

How Francis Scott Key Bridge was lost:A minute-by-minute visual analysis of the collapse

After Baltimore bridge collapse, expert says momentary power outage common

Photos of the APL Qingdao near the Verrazzano Bridge evoked the tragic collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore after being struck by a cargo ship nearly two weeks ago.

American Pilots’ Association executive director Clay Diamond previously told USA TODAY that power outages are fairly common on cargo ships.

“It’s likely that virtually every pilot in the country has experienced a power loss of some kind (but) it generally is momentary,” Diamond said, speaking about the Baltimore bridge collapse. “This was a complete blackout of all the power on the ship, so that’s unusual. Of course this happened at the worst possible location.” 

Coast Guard spokesperson Ryan Schultz said the APL Qingdao did not suffer a full power outage.

"The APL Qingdao suffered a loss of propulsion that was restored a short time later, which temporarily impacted the vessel’s ability to move through the water without the assistance of the towing vessels that were escorting it," Schultz said in an emailed statement. "This differs from a loss of power, where the ship loses its ability to generate power for all systems onboard, including propulsion."

Contributing: Emily Le Coz, Claire Thornton, Josh Meyer, Tom Vanden Brook