Container ship crashes into Rotterdam bridge; Five containers in the Nieuwe Maas river

A container ship crashed into the Willems Bridge in Rotterdam on Wednesday morning and lost five containers in the Nieuwe Maas. It is not yet clear how badly the bridge was damaged.

Willemsbrug. Alweer.. pic.twitter.com/qNYhJms07m

— Meijer (@joostm21) September 11, 2024

The collision happened at around 8:45 a.m. Witnesses told Rijnmond that they heard a huge bang. “I saw the ship sailing on. It didn’t even stop. It can’t be that he didn’t notice. It was a huge sound, really not normal. A long grinding sound,” witness Chris van Lith said.

Five containers fell from the ship into the Nieuwe Maas and floated toward the Van Brenenoord Bridge. “The first ship that sailed behind it really had to make an emergency stop. The containers were coming straight at it,” Van Lith said.

Het is weer eens nogal mis gegaan bij de Willemsbrug hier in het zonnige 010 😬 pic.twitter.com/I5UYFnQ57D

— Sander Janssen (@sanderja) September 11, 2024

The involved container ship has moored at Noordereiland, and the skipper is being questioned, a spokesperson for the Port of Rotterdam Authority told the broadcaster. “He may have misjudged the height of the bridge. There is damage to the bridge, but the extent of it is not yet known.”

“Four containers have been secured. One container sank but has been located,” the spokesperson added. It is not clear what is inside the containers.