Eggner Ferry Bridge Hit By Delta Mariner Ship In Kentucky

Incredible images emerged of a hulking freighter wearing mangled pieces of a steel bridge on its bow after a collision in southwestern Kentucky.

The 312-foot, 8,400-ton Delta Mariner hauls rocket parts for the Delta and Atlas systems to launch stations in Florida and California, according to a statement from United Launch Alliance, which builds the rocket parts in Alabama. The cargo was not damaged in the collision with the bridge, the company said.

The rockets are used by the Air Force, NASA and private companies to send satellites into space, said Jessica Rye, a spokeswoman with United Launch Alliance.

The ship's typical route to Florida takes it along the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers, then onto the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico and on to Florida's east coast.


The three Common Booster Cores and the cryogenic upper stage to comprise the West Coast's first Delta 4-Heavy rocket arrives aboard the Delta Mariner shipping vessel at Vandenberg Air Force Base's harbor in September 2009 after a month-long, 4,000-mile voyage from the factory in Alabama, including a trip through the Panama Canal. The rocket segments were transported up the road to Space Launch Complex 6 and the Horizontal Integration Facility for assembly.