Key bridge in Baltimore collapses after cargo ship crashes into it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live on the ESMD on the Bay and according to my navy and coast guard friends out here: the boat was experiencing repeated power failures from the short time it was released from the tugs after it left the port. Without power the navigation system won’t work and you cannot steer it and hence the boat will drift. The crew then tried to force the throttle to get it back on course and avoid a collision which is why there is thick black smoke seen coming from the boat before it gets to the bridge. The boat did contact MTA/the bridge which has its headquarters at the north end of the bridge in Dundalk to indicate they believed it would collide with the bridge but there wasn’t enough time IRT to then close the bridge to traffic before it was struck.

The ship was FULL of thousands (yes, thousands) of containers. The weight is incredible. You cannot do sharp turns or sudden stops on this. It also is so heavy it would do this to almost any bridge if collided.

Every single container ship that sails on the Bay, anywhere from Virginia Beach to Baltimore, must have a local bay captain on board while it’s on the bay to navigate the ship. There was one on this ship as well.

Ships are being re-routed to the port of Philadelphia.

Thanks for posting this. Does anyone know why the ship wouldn’t just drop anchor in this case?

It wouldn't do much good. 95,000 tonnes in motion is not easy to stop

[Anonymous]

If you ever went to Starscape at Fort Armisted, this is the big bridge next to the venue site. Was amazing to watch the sunrise from that location, dancing to techno adjacent to the bridge.

Simpler times!

Fort Armisted will likely be the recovery site for them to dump bridge debris and set up an HQ to manage the work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My great uncle fell asleep at the wheel and went off a bridge with both his kids in the car. He was able to save one of them.

But he wasn’t falling with a bridge and most bridges aren’t this high. I’d think that if you were on a large section that collapsed under you the bridge going into the water would create lots of force that would suck your car down with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope Wes Moore calls Gavin Newsom and ask him how they got the freeway in LA re-opened in record time after last fall's devastating fire.

Biggest priority right now is to clear the debris ASAP and get the shipping lanes re-opened. That can probably happen in a week or two by commandeering recovery equipment from Norfolk, Philly, and Newark.

I am incredibly impressed with what both Newsom and Josh Shapiro were about to accomplish after their respective interstate disasters but this is a hundred times more complicated and I hesitate to compare them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let me guess. This is probably all the result of poor maintenance of the ship to save a few $ to minorly boost profit. The ship has an electrical failure and loses a control as a result, causing this fiasco.

It was probably consultants who prescribed reduced maintenance of the ship to save on costs that resulted in this. It's entirely their MO like the train crash disaster in Ohio where they proposed to cut staff and maintenance to the bone.

I literally watched a West Wing episode two days ago with flashbacks to when Sam was a corporate lawyer and helped a shipping company buy a crappy ship, that ended up running aground in North Carolina and leaking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live on the ESMD on the Bay and according to my navy and coast guard friends out here: the boat was experiencing repeated power failures from the short time it was released from the tugs after it left the port. Without power the navigation system won’t work and you cannot steer it and hence the boat will drift. The crew then tried to force the throttle to get it back on course and avoid a collision which is why there is thick black smoke seen coming from the boat before it gets to the bridge. The boat did contact MTA/the bridge which has its headquarters at the north end of the bridge in Dundalk to indicate they believed it would collide with the bridge but there wasn’t enough time IRT to then close the bridge to traffic before it was struck.

The ship was FULL of thousands (yes, thousands) of containers. The weight is incredible. You cannot do sharp turns or sudden stops on this. It also is so heavy it would do this to almost any bridge if collided.

Every single container ship that sails on the Bay, anywhere from Virginia Beach to Baltimore, must have a local bay captain on board while it’s on the bay to navigate the ship. There was one on this ship as well.

Ships are being re-routed to the port of Philadelphia.

Why the heck would the tugs release the ship knowing that it was having electrical issues and a huge bridge to imminently navigate?! And why isn’t that bridge considered to be within the harbor?!

I've been corresponding with my dad who is retired from the shipping industry. He said the tugs for unberthing had left before the ship started losing power. And then there was no time for them to come back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does there seem to be any foul play? Terrorism that caused the power and propulsion to go out?

The ship is less than 10 years old. Which means it probably has lots of deferred maintenance or the power system has some sort of manufacturing/installation error from the get-go.

Without proper and meticulous maintenance, things on ships break or go into disrepair very quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live on the ESMD on the Bay and according to my navy and coast guard friends out here: the boat was experiencing repeated power failures from the short time it was released from the tugs after it left the port. Without power the navigation system won’t work and you cannot steer it and hence the boat will drift. The crew then tried to force the throttle to get it back on course and avoid a collision which is why there is thick black smoke seen coming from the boat before it gets to the bridge. The boat did contact MTA/the bridge which has its headquarters at the north end of the bridge in Dundalk to indicate they believed it would collide with the bridge but there wasn’t enough time IRT to then close the bridge to traffic before it was struck.

The ship was FULL of thousands (yes, thousands) of containers. The weight is incredible. You cannot do sharp turns or sudden stops on this. It also is so heavy it would do this to almost any bridge if collided.

Every single container ship that sails on the Bay, anywhere from Virginia Beach to Baltimore, must have a local bay captain on board while it’s on the bay to navigate the ship. There was one on this ship as well.

Ships are being re-routed to the port of Philadelphia.

Thanks for posting this. Does anyone know why the ship wouldn’t just drop anchor in this case?

It wouldn't do much good. 95,000 tonnes in motion is not easy to stop

Agreed….but I would love to know how strong that support pillar is that it DID stop the ship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More info about the ship and it's owners + operators. The shipping world is very weird when it comes to responsibility for the ship.

https://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels/details/9697428

https://www.tradewindsnews.com/casualties/-mass-casualty-event-as-maersk-container-ship-destroys-vital-bridge-in-baltimore/2-1-1617658

The ship is owned by Mitsui & Co subsidiary Grace Ocean of Singapore and operated by Maersk between the East Coast of the US and East Asia, according to Clarksons data.

A Grace Ocean official confirmed to TradeWinds that the vessel involved was the Dali.

“We can confirm that this is correct,” he said, adding that the company was working with the ship’s technical manager, Synergy Marine, to determine what happened.

“At this time we are still trying to get information,” he said.
...
Maersk said: “We are horrified by what has happened in Baltimore, and our thoughts are with all of those affected.”

The group said the ship was operated by Synergy and time-chartered by Maersk, with Maersk cargo on board.

No Maersk crew or personnel were on the vessel.

I predict a lot of finger pointing when it comes to liability. It sounds like Maersk "rents" the ship from the ownership company and then subcontracted to a company called Synergy to actually operate the ship, with all of Maersk's cargo on the ship. Whose insurance is actually responsible?

It's going to be a debacle. I hope the Feds start freezing assets.

I've been on ships often and it always seemed like some shady shell company game regarding ships. They fly under the flags of countries with lenient laws and taxes, no one seems to own them.

I would say that Baltimore isn't going to get a cent out of this company or ship. Remember that ship that got stuck in the Suez canal? They basically abandoned it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where will the cruise ships go?

Norfolk or Newark. Or it might be cheaper to fly the passengers home from another port of call.

I think Philadelphia is an option too, and then it's a pretty easy bus ride back to Baltimore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does there seem to be any foul play? Terrorism that caused the power and propulsion to go out?

In brief comments to reporters earlier, the MD Secretary of Transportation (I think that's who it was) said that according to the FBI, it wasn't terrorism. His remarks were pretty terse, so I'm not sure he meant to say it was definitely ruled out, but that's what it sounded like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My great uncle fell asleep at the wheel and went off a bridge with both his kids in the car. He was able to save one of them.

But he wasn’t falling with a bridge and most bridges aren’t this high. I’d think that if you were on a large section that collapsed under you the bridge going into the water would create lots of force that would suck your car down with it.

I appreciated that the PP posted about his uncle.
I don't understand why others see a post as an opportunity to pick it apart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope Wes Moore calls Gavin Newsom and ask him how they got the freeway in LA re-opened in record time after last fall's devastating fire.

Biggest priority right now is to clear the debris ASAP and get the shipping lanes re-opened. That can probably happen in a week or two by commandeering recovery equipment from Norfolk, Philly, and Newark.

I am incredibly impressed with what both Newsom and Josh Shapiro were about to accomplish after their respective interstate disasters but this is a hundred times more complicated and I hesitate to compare them.

Agree. These cases both give hope that the long-term effects to shipping and traffic can be mitigated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More info about the ship and it's owners + operators. The shipping world is very weird when it comes to responsibility for the ship.

https://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels/details/9697428

https://www.tradewindsnews.com/casualties/-mass-casualty-event-as-maersk-container-ship-destroys-vital-bridge-in-baltimore/2-1-1617658

The ship is owned by Mitsui & Co subsidiary Grace Ocean of Singapore and operated by Maersk between the East Coast of the US and East Asia, according to Clarksons data.

A Grace Ocean official confirmed to TradeWinds that the vessel involved was the Dali.

“We can confirm that this is correct,” he said, adding that the company was working with the ship’s technical manager, Synergy Marine, to determine what happened.

“At this time we are still trying to get information,” he said.
...
Maersk said: “We are horrified by what has happened in Baltimore, and our thoughts are with all of those affected.”

The group said the ship was operated by Synergy and time-chartered by Maersk, with Maersk cargo on board.

No Maersk crew or personnel were on the vessel.

I predict a lot of finger pointing when it comes to liability. It sounds like Maersk "rents" the ship from the ownership company and then subcontracted to a company called Synergy to actually operate the ship, with all of Maersk's cargo on the ship. Whose insurance is actually responsible?

It's going to be a debacle. I hope the Feds start freezing assets.

I've been on ships often and it always seemed like some shady shell company game regarding ships. They fly under the flags of countries with lenient laws and taxes, no one seems to own them.

I would say that Baltimore isn't going to get a cent out of this company or ship. Remember that ship that got stuck in the Suez canal? They basically abandoned it.

I wish we would just bill the country that flaged the ship and signed off on it's sea worthiness

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where will the cruise ships go?

Is this a joke? I would think the last thing on any decent person's mind this morning would be cruise ship routes? Prayers for the victims and for strength of the rescue crews.

Why would you say that? People aren't asking about summer cruise plans, they are asking about the people current on ships that were supposed to return to Baltimore in the next few days. It's a legitimate thing to think about. Clearly not as pressing as the people in the water, but not some frivolous vacation planning.