New Orleans Cruise Boat Hit by Tanker Owned by Subsidiary of Chinese Firm Trump Had Targeted; 32 Hospitalised

A tanker owned by a subsidiary of China's state-owned shipbuilding giant struck a docked river cruise boat in New Orleans on Friday, sending passengers and crew into the Mississippi River.

All 180 passengers and crew aboard the American Heritage survived, and 32 were taken to hospital, though none had critical injuries, the mayor said.

'A Miracle On The Mississippi'

The Atlantic Asphalt, which appeared to suffer a loss of steering, struck the paddleboat around midday as passengers prepared to leave at the end of an eight-day cruise through Louisiana and Mississippi.

The boat, carrying 129 passengers, had docked about two hours earlier, the Associated Press reported. Video showed metal and glass crunching as the much larger tanker struck.

The American Heritage started listing within minutes and flipped while emergency workers were still trying to get everyone off. Dozens of people, including at least two police officers, were pulled from the 19°C (66°F) water onto nearby vessels.

'We have zero people unaccounted for, which truly is a miracle on the Mississippi,' New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno said, as rescuers cheered.

'It was just chaos,' said Devon Flanagan, who works at the port.

A triage area was set up in the port's administration building, and the river was closed to vessel traffic, Al Jazeera reported.

What Went Wrong

The tanker appeared to have suffered 'some type of loss of steering', although the exact cause of the collision remained unknown, Coast Guard Capt. Melanie Burnham said.

Tulane University maritime law expert Martin Davies said that, in his view, videos indicated some kind of catastrophic system failure and 'super bad luck'. 'For something like this to happen for an upbound ship indicates that something must have gone really badly wrong,' he said, noting the tanker had already made the difficult Algiers Point turn.

The National Transportation Safety Board planned to investigate, although a nationwide flight ground stop caused by air traffic control communications problems initially delayed its team.

The Chinese Connection

The 520ft tanker, which flies the Marshall Islands flag and carries asphalt and bitumen, is owned by Liberia-registered Nave Shipping SA, according to the International Maritime Organization. MarineTraffic lists it as a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation, a state-owned conglomerate, the AP reported.

In 2022, the group accounted for nearly a quarter of the global commercial shipbuilding market and was the world's largest military shipbuilder, the AP reported, citing the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. It did not respond to the AP's request for comment.

China's shipbuilding industry, rather than this company specifically, has been a target for the Trump administration. In April 2025, the US Trade Representative announced port fees on Chinese-built and Chinese-operated ships, saying China had targeted the maritime and shipbuilding sectors for dominance. There is no suggestion the tanker's ownership played any part in the collision.

The American Heritage, built in 2015 and operated by American Cruise Lines, can hold up to 150 passengers. The cruise line said it was 'deeply concerned for everyone involved'. Moreno said many survivors, mostly from out of town, lost IDs, phones and car keys and needed food, hotel rooms and transport.

'They needed chargers for their phones. Some people didn't have phones,' she said. 'They need to contact their families to let them know they're OK.'