No injuries were reported on the bridge or boat, which was carrying space rocket parts from Decatur, Ala., to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The ship was traveling on its typical route to Florida's Atlantic coast when it hit the aging steel bridge, which was built in the 1930s and handles about 2,800 vehicles a day.

U.S. Coast Guard officials investigating the collision declined to comment Friday evening on a possible cause. Lt. Ron Easley in the Louisville office said a report would be issued but the investigation was not finished.

Sam Sacco, a spokesman for the ship's owner and operator, Foss Maritime of Seattle, said the Coast Guard inspected the vessel and interviewed crew members. Sacco said the boat was not severely damaged, and some of the crew remained on board Friday to ensure the cargo is safe.

The 312-foot, 8,400-ton Delta Mariner hauls rocket parts for the Delta and Atlas systems to launch stations in Florida and California. The cargo was not damaged in the collision with the bridge, the company said.

Sacco said 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. Sacco also said he didn't believe that the Delta Mariner has had any major incidents before the collision, other than getting stuck on a sandbar on the Tennessee River in 2001 during a trip to Decatur. (It was freed by a river tug after about an hour.)

Transportation Cabinet spokesman Keith Todd stated he believed most of the navigational lights were functioning on the bridge at the time of the impact, although there is some question about whether they were or were not.

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