MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Three cruise vessels stranded at blocked Montevideo port

The barge loaded with containers and cages with cars

The port of Montevideo remained closed on Tuesday to all vessels with a plus five meters draught following a collision on Monday afternoon, in the access channel to Uruguay's main sea terminal, between a cruise vessel carrying some 1.700 passengers and a barge loaded with containers.

The Norwegian Dream, a Bahamas-flagged cruise ship which was leaving Montevideo for the South Atlantic, received damages described as "not serious" above its waterline. The Paraguayan flagged barge also suffered unspecified damages and several containers and some vehicles tumbled into the shallow River Plate estuary, reported Uruguayan naval authorities. The ship remained afloat. The cruise ship, which recently left Buenos Aires to begin a 14-day cruise toward the southern tip of South America, was leaving port when it collided with the barge which was "adrift in the entrance channel," Norwegian Cruise Line spokeswoman Susan Robison said in a statement from Miami. "The overall safety of the vessel has not been compromised," Robison said. She said the Norwegian Dream was anchored off Montevideo, Uruguay's capital, and is expected to return to the dock where it will remain while repairs are conducted prior to resuming its voyage. Repairs are estimated to take between "two and three days". The statement said the ship would miss two ports of call before repairs are completed, and passengers were being offered alternate shore excursions before it resumes sailing to Ushuaia, Argentina's southernmost city. Meantime Uruguayan navy frogmen and tug boats helped to lift from the Rive Plate waters some of the floating containers, but it's not clear how many vehicles were lost and a survey was being conducted by naval vessels to determine their location. Given the strong winds and rough sea on Monday, naval experts believe the sunken vehicles are not necessarily where the collision took place and since the access channel to the port of Montevideo is relatively shallow only limited draught vessels were allowed to resume operations on Tuesday. Meantime a second cruise vessel, the Infinity remains "trapped" in Montevideo and a third one, Marco Polo was waiting together with another estimated fifteen ships to enter the port.