Mein Schiff 3 hits two container ships in Bremerhaven — what our tracking shows
A storm gust pushed the cruise ship against the container quay as she was leaving. Three ships damaged, 3,350 people on board, the Canaries voyage cancelled. Our AIS data records how the manoeuvre broke off.
26. October 2026 ·
On Sunday evening Mein Schiff 3 cast off in Bremerhaven. Barely an hour later she was back alongside the same berth — and three ships were damaged.
According to police, a storm gust caught the cruise ship as she was leaving and pushed her against two container ships moored at the Stromkaje. There were 2,428 guests and 922 crew on board. Nobody was hurt, and no vessel took on water.
What our tracking shows
Because we record Mein Schiff 3's position reports continuously, the evening can be followed minute by minute. All times local:
- 17:08 — the ship leaves the berth, 0.4 knots
- 17:13 — 1.0 knots, she is clear
- 17:20 — 6.8 knots, around 500 metres north-west of the berth
- 17:26 — suddenly down to 1.3 knots, level with the Stromkaje
- 17:33 to 17:47 — between 0.5 and 2.9 knots, the ship is manoeuvring
- 17:56 — 3.3 knots, heading back towards the berth
- 18:08 — 0.7 knots, alongside again
Six minutes separated full way from a standstill. She has not moved since: from Sunday evening onwards she reports zero knots at the same position without interruption. That matches what the water police ordered — all three vessels involved are banned from sailing.
The damage
On Mein Schiff 3, lifeboats and their davits were damaged along with the hull plating, and the bridge took some of it too. On one of the container ships the port side was torn open over several metres and container guides were deformed.
TUI Cruises stated that the damage found requires short-term repairs at a shipyard. The 20-day voyage to the Canaries, due to begin on Sunday, has therefore been cancelled.
What passengers should know
If a voyage fails right at the start, there is an entitlement to a refund of the full fare. That is the view of Kay Rodegra, a lawyer specialising in travel law, quoted by the German Press Agency. There is no entitlement to a replacement voyage at a later date.
Whether compensation beyond that is due depends on whether the operator is at fault. That is exactly what the investigation has to establish. A storm gust on its own is force majeure — whether the decision to sail at all in those conditions should have been different is another question.
Context
Bremerhaven sits on the Weser, and at almost five kilometres the Stromkaje is one of the longest continuous container quays in Europe. Cruise ships pass it at close range on their way out. A ship like Mein Schiff 3, around 295 metres long with high superstructure, offers the wind a large surface — with gusts of 100 km/h, as reported on the North Sea coast that weekend, that is enough.
The collision fell in a week in which the weather threw several cruises into disarray.