[Bon mots]

The shipment they just caught in Greece was not fertilizer, like in Texas city. The al-Qaida creeps probabaly know that they have little chance of bringing a renegade ship like that into any port, but they could hijack a legitimate ship, kill its crew and replace it with the bomb ship. The bomb ship could be disguised to look like a legit ship sailing from any port.

The ship in Texas City was not deliberately place to do maximum damage, as any ship al-Qaida sends surely would...
Here are some more photos from Texas City:

Anyway, you get the idea...

They could sail it right into Manhattan harbor, Baltimore, or any one of a zillion places, they might hit Europe this time, as they are much more complacent. Wouldn't be hard to sail right into Central London with a properly hijacked and disguised ship or two. You can be certain that they are very carefully planning a devious and diabolical plan right now. The Saudis are likely financing it.

[John H K]

You HAVE TO TAKE ON an American pilot and have him in charge to sail a cargo vessel into an American port...and he boards well outside the harbor.

It's a lot less easy to simply sail a cargo vessel wherever you want than people like to portray it.

[mrjeff]

The Halifax disaster of 1917 was worse than Texas City. A munitions ship exploded in Halifax harbor - over 2000 dead and wiped out half a squre mile of the city.

[John H K]

Also in most modern American cities the cargo terminals are now separated by a large distance from the downtown/financial centers. Manhattan,Brooklyn, etc. load and unload no cargo at all; it's all in Newark.

The Inner Harbor of Baltimore is well removed from the Dundalk marine terminal, etc. etc.

A large ship that doesn't take on a pilot, or has an unresponsive pilot, and isn't heading for the cargo terminals would be obvious; and given their slow speed, it would take time to get to near a downtown area.