MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Port of Montevideo reopens; Norwegian Dream in for repairs

Cruise Norwegian Dream

Cruise vessel Norwegian Dream finally returned to the port of Montevideo Tuesday evening after waiting 24 hours two miles offshore while the main channel of access to the port was surveyed and cleared of possible hazards.

On Monday afternoon the Bahamas flagged vessel with 1.600 passengers was leaving Montevideo for a South Atlantic cruise when it collided with an incoming barge loaded with containers and pulled by a tug. Fortunately there was no loss of life and damages were described as "not serious" above its waterline. The barge pulled by the Papu Mar tug also suffered unspecified damages and several containers and some vehicles tumbled into the River Plate. Uruguayan Navy vessels and divers spent the last 24 hours trying to recover the floating containers and to locate the vehicles in the bottom of the muddy channel while the port of Montevideo was closed to all sea traffic. Strong winds and choppy waters delayed the recovery tasks but early Tuesday the ban was lifted for vessels with less than five meters draught. The Norwegian Dream was forced to anchor two miles offshore waiting for the naval inquiry into the accident and hoping to return to port for repairs on the bow that are believed to demand " two days". The opening of the port also helped to "liberate" another cruise vessel, Infinity with 1980 passengers which had to wait for the access channel to Montevideo to be cleared. A third vessel, Marco Polo which was scheduled to call in Montevideo, waited for a few hours and at mid day Tuesday decided to cancel the visit and continue with the South Atlantic cruise. The Norwegian Dream after repairs will call Puerto Madryn, Argentina; Stanley, Falkland Islands and South of Chile.