Cruise ship Pacific Dawn stops just 70m from Gateway Bridge

Gateway Bridge. Source: The Courier-Mail

Couriermail.com.au readers say the Pacific Dawn was not out of control when it lost power 700m from the bridge.

Brisbane Marine Pilots Captain Peter Liley was at the helm of the 245m-long Pacific Dawn on Saturday morning when the liner lost all power and steering just 700m away from the six-lane bridge over the Brisbane River.

Two tugboats got the Pacific Dawn under control, bringing her to a complete standstill 70m shy of the bridge, which is 1.6km long and 64.5m high.

A Logan reader said: "The situation was handled very well by Captain Turnbull and his crew, and passengers were informed of all developments."

Capt Liley said he managed to stop the ship before it got to the Gateway.

"I was piloting the ship and we lost all propulsion. It's unusual, but we are trained for these sorts of things. If it was under the Gateway we could have drifted clear but it was before the Gateway."

Capt Liley said a ship without power was prone to drift, and there was a danger it could not be stopped before hitting the bridge's pylons.

He said the ship's captain was investigating what caused the fault, saying he believed a fuse had been affected by a saltwater leak.

"There's an investigation into what occurred," he said.

"We used two tugs to pull the ship up, and we pulled up before the Gateway."

"We waited on the chief engineer on what services he could provide, but he couldn't provide any services so we devised a plan to take the `dead' ship back to Hamilton."

A spokesman for Carnival Australia, which operates the Pacific Dawn, said the cruise liner had suffered power problems but the fault was not a major one and she would set sail again on Saturday afternoon.

"It was a temporary loss of power," the spokesman said.

"It was a controlled situation.

"The ship is OK and will set off for a South Pacific cruise today."