Port of New Orleans sues tanker owner hours after riverboat crash
Published November 14, 2026 3:00 PM CST
The Port of New Orleans filed a lawsuit against the owners of an asphalt tanker the same day it crashed into a river cruise boat on the Mississippi with 180 people on board.
According to court documents, the lawsuit was filed late Friday in federal court.
Who owns the New Orleans tanker?
What we know:
It’s the first of what will likely be numerous lawsuits filed after video from the scene showed a much larger Atlantic Asphalt tanker hit the American Heritage cruise boat while it was docked.
RELATED: The history and a closer look at the American Heritage paddlewheeler
The cruise boat started listing within minutes and flipped while emergency workers were still trying to get everyone off the ship.
Cruise ship capsizes after collision
Video filmed by Randy Christie shows what happened in the moments after the Atlantic Asphalt tanker struck American Cruise Lines’ American Heritage in New Orleans.
Dozens of people on board and at least two police officers were dragged from the muddy river onto nearby ships. The mayor said 32 people were taken to the hospital, but none of them were critically injured. Everyone on board was accounted for.
In the lawsuit, the Port of New Orleans says the accident caused more than $1 million in damages to the port-owned terminal where the American Heritage was docked.
MORE: New Orleans tanker crashes into riverboat carrying 129 passengers; all accounted for
The ship is owned by a company called Nave Shipping SA, which is registered in Monrovia, Liberia, according to the International Maritime Organization.
It is a subsidiary of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation, a sprawling Chinese state-owned conglomerate, according to the live shipping tracker MarineTraffic.
The Atlantic Asphalt tanker struck American Cruise Lines’ American Heritage around 12:30 p.m. on the Mississippi River, the Port of New Orleans. (WVUE)
What caused the tanker-riverboat crash?
What we don't know:
It’s too early to tell what might have caused the crash, but videos indicate some kind of catastrophic system failure on the vessel and "super bad luck" that it struck the boat as passengers were departing, said Martin Davies, a maritime law expert at Tulane University.
The Source: This article includes information from the Port of New Orleans' lawsuit, The Associated Press and previous
Crime and Public SafetyLouisianaVer nota original ↗
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