WILMINGTON -- The U.S. Coast Guard is shutting down 26 miles of the Cape Fear river Wednesday at midnight. The closure will allow a large ship to pass through that is carrying two neo-panamax cranes to the Port of Wilmington. Those new cranes will help the port load and unload larger vessels.

To make it all happen, the safety zone will be in effect from the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge all the way up to the mouth of the river, south of Southport. 

“The cranes on them themselves are kind of hanging out over the vessel, so theres not a whole lot of clearance even for smaller vessels. That is why we are asking people to obey the closure and keep out of the river until that closure is complete,” said Commander Heather Stratton.

The closure is expected to last five to seven hours.