Stalled ship briefly closes Sunshine Skyway Bridge

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Post a comment | E-mail this story | Print

The Sunshine Skyway Bridge was closed for about two hours after the freighter stalled near the bridge's support piers.

The Florida Highway Patrol closed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge early Wednesday morning for about two hours at the urging of the Coast Guard after a freighter ship ran aground in the channel approaching the bridge.

According to the Coast Guard, a freighter carrying phosphate ran aground a few hundreds yards from the bridge on the south side of the structure.

Concerns about low tide and winds pushing the ship too close to bridge columns forced the closing at about 5:30 a.m. The bridge was reopened just before 7:30 a.m.

Sunshine Skyway Bridge

According to Coast Guard Petty Officer Tasha Tulley, the freighter had recently left the Port of Tampa when it had a malfunction of its propulsion system and stalled in the shipping channel that travels underneath the bridge.

Officials said after the propulsion failure, the ship drifted outside the navigation channel and became stuck in an area of sand and rocks. Although the tide was not unusually low, the incident did happen just before the morning's low tide.

The stoppage of the 600-foot freighter ship also forced the Coast Guard to shut down all travel in the shipping lanes, temporarily delaying freighter traffic in and out of the Port of Tampa.

The Coast Guard said the freighter would have to be towed by a tug boat.

Tulley added the freighter would have to be towed away by tug boat.

Several Coast Guard vessels, as well as two tug boats, moved into position near the freighter later in the morning and successfully freed the ship.

As for traffic, Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Trooper Larry Coggins said the closure of the Skyway Bridge forced the rerouting of thousands of motorists that travel the bridge on an average morning.