Shipment explodes in Tianjin port

I wonder if any cruises that use that port. The blast was very large. Has any one been to this port?

It's the port for Beijing. The modern cruise port is far from the city of Tianjin in nowhere land and the city is huge, one of the largest in China. I did not see where exactly the explosion occurred, really bad for the people near it.

Sorry to hear about this.

As mentioned, that is not the cruise passenger port.

Keith

Tianjin is a cruise stop port. We sailed on the Celebrity Millennium last fall from Vancouver to Shanghai with a stop in Tianjin, which is a stepping-off point for tours in Beijing. Our ship docked two nights in Tianjin.

You will find a handful of ships making stops in Tianjin in the spring and fall usually during repositioning cruises. None were in port during the explosion.

I don't know just where the explosions took place as the entire port area is very large. The devastation is very sad.

I think the explosion happened in this general area. https://goo.gl/maps/FKyrR News video shows the hulks of burned out new vehicles nearby. The cruise terminal is the bottom tip of the manmade peninsula to the southeast about 6 miles away if you zoom out.

movc, Thanks for posting the map. Our ship was docked directly at the right end of the terminal where the long arm comes out for the passengers. I see an auto transporter uses the same dock.

BBC's article has a map.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-33924501

The explosion was about 5km from the cruise terminal.

Thank you so much for the information. We will be embarking from Tianjin in October and were nervous that the terminal was affected. Glad to hear that the explosion was not in that area.

BBC's article has a map.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-33924501

Ok it looks I was a bit too far north, based on the BBC link. Here is a new google map link. https://goo.gl/maps/wqoQX You will notice it is much closer to residential towers and sandwiched between two new car holding lots.

Tianjin port is in the region of Tianjin in an area called Binhai but the actual city of Tianjin is approx 45 miles to the west. The area also has a Manhattan-themed ghost city. http://www.businessinsider.com/60-minutes-chinas-ghost-cities-2013-3 Pan down in google map south to the area around the river bends.

We were docked at Xingang port for Tianjin for two days last October on HAL's ms Amsterdam.

Tianjin is a huge area. It took an hour's drive inland to reach the city of Tianjin for our tour there.

We drove by new construction and industry with new landscaping to RAPIDLY transform the open spaces.

Japan's national bird is the crane.We were told that China's is the construction crane.

I am glad to know that the new cruise port is several miles away from the explosion tragedy. Something went terribly wrong.

Thanks to everyone for sharing maps and details.

Barbara

Tianjin cruises unaffected by blasts

Shanghai Daily:

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/national/Tianjin-cruises-unaffected-by-blasts/shdaily.shtml

The immediate dangers are not over yet, there are still "minor" fires & explosions happened despite the tight media restrictions to this ground zero - 20+ tons of TNT equivalent force not far from a small scale nuclear device gone off. Even its own net citizens are calling for greater transparency in getting to the facts and bottom of it all.

Thoughts & prayers for lives lost, injured and missing fire-figthers as first responders on scene, apparently unaware of the highly dangerous, toxic & explosive nature of huge quantity of chemicals stored in those lots right next to commercial & residential districts, against regulations & best practices.

Biochemical military teams had been deployed in hazmat suits and the investigations a challenge as records and information were destroyed & lost in the fire & explosions ... it is clear that materials such as cyannide leaked and into the ground water systems, and, Beijing is just 75 miles away.

Local and central government are tasked with that delicate balance of assuring calm and stability in disaster recovery and managing the incidents to avoid panic, and, had "detained" officials running the facilities for questioning ... damages to the region's eco-systems could take months, if not years to undo.

When we travel abroad, we tend to use AP News (mobile app) and BBC news for updates & info ... CNN is just too sensational and lead only in the breaking news, slightly.

I feel so sorry for the many firefighters who were not informed about the chemicals. They had no chance of survival.

Corruption is at the root of this disaster.

Corruption is at the root of this disaster.

Should we assume that you have first hand knowledge about this or you are just sharing some irrelevant speculation based on prejudice?

Thank you so much for the information. We will be embarking from Tianjin in October and were nervous that the terminal was affected. Glad to hear that the explosion was not in that area.

Hi Bonnie, what ship are you on in October? We are in the Quantum on, I think the 27th October.