Anonymous wrote:Forgive me if this was already asked, but how do cargo ships typically pass through/by the bridge? Do they usually go under, and this ship hit the pylon instead? I do not think there is a drawbridge. That ship seemed piled high with cargo. It doesn't look like it would have fit going under the bridge.

It would have gone under; there is no drawbridge. It hit the pylon because they lost the ability to steer.

Anonymous wrote:Forgive me if this was already asked, but how do cargo ships typically pass through/by the bridge? Do they usually go under, and this ship hit the pylon instead? I do not think there is a drawbridge. That ship seemed piled high with cargo. It doesn't look like it would have fit going under the bridge.

Seriously?? No, they go over.

Anonymous wrote:Forgive me if this was already asked, but how do cargo ships typically pass through/by the bridge? Do they usually go under, and this ship hit the pylon instead? I do not think there is a drawbridge. That ship seemed piled high with cargo. It doesn't look like it would have fit going under the bridge.

No words

Forgive me if this was already asked, but how do cargo ships typically pass through/by the bridge? Do they usually go under, and this ship hit the pylon instead? I do not think there is a drawbridge. That ship seemed piled high with cargo. It doesn't look like it would have fit going under the bridge.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When my elderly mom was alive, she would have totally needed reassurance that I was safe from anything that had happened within hundreds of miles from where I lived.

+1. I literally learned about this first from MIL who texted us at 530am “checking to make sure we were ok.” But now that I think about it, it’s probably attention seeking behavior rather than genuine concern!

Why would you assume the worst and how can she can attention from asking if you are ok?

Hello random anonymous DCUM posters. I would like to announce that I, other random anonymous poster, have been marked ‘SAFE’ from this incident.

Thank you for your time and concern.

I and a few dozen of my friends have marked ourselves safe here. Facebook prompted us because we live near the bridge and we clicked safe or not affected.

Why? Some of us who are middle aged, connect with a lot of friends from past periods of life on Facebook. I have FB friends from middle school and high school in another state. I have friends from college in another state. I have friends from work in another state. And I have family and friends who have relocated to other parts of the country who know I lived relatively close to that bridge. I've been asked a lot by FB friends if I have been affected or my commute has been affected by the bridge. Marking myself as unaffected by the event, just cuts down on the number of inquiries I get from far away friends, especially friends who have never lived in this area.

It's not for attention seeking or internet popularity (neither applies for me and my group of friends).

Hmm this seems not great.

“The company that chartered the cargo ship that destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore was recently sanctioned by regulators for blocking its employees from directly reporting safety concerns to the U.S. Coast Guard — in violation of a seaman whistleblower protection law, according to regulatory filings reviewed by The Lever.

Eight months before a Maersk Line Limited-chartered cargo ship crashed into the Baltimore bridge, likely killing six people and injuring others, the Labor Department sanctioned the shipping conglomerate for retaliating against an employee who reported unsafe working conditions aboard a Maersk-operated boat. In its order, the department found that Maersk had “a policy that requires employees to first report their concerns to [Maersk]... prior to reporting it to the [Coast Guard] or other authorities.”
https://www.levernews.com/feds-recently-hit-cargo-giant-in-baltimore-disaster-for-silencing-whistleblowers/

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Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the update. Now I understand about the vehicles Wow kudos to police for getting there and stopping traffic. This could have been so much worse. It is horrible for the workers though because it seems to be recovery now. I don’t think anyone is going to feel good going over a suspension bridge and seeing a boat near. Of all the things I have worried about..this was not in the kit but is now for sure. I hope there is a mandate for bridges like this to have some of the safety measures the Sunshine bridge in Florida has after their collapse in 1980. Apparently the new bridge has something underwater that forces a boat away if it comes too close to
pilings. This should be retrofitted for all these large suspension bridges.

Construction started for this bridge in 1972 and completed in '77, before the Sunshine bridge collapse. New bridges are built to withstand greater boat impacts (but the Dali really is gigantic - I wonder if newer bridges would have withstood a direct hit like this).

The natural thing is to fixate on the failure of the bridge and there are certainly many lessons to be learned. It sounds like there could have been a few protective “dolphins” to protect the supports, but the angle of the ship rendered them useless.

The failure that I think we should fixate more on for the future is the ship. That cargo ship was enormous and might have weighed 100,000 metric tons. Or 100,000,000 kgs. It was traveling at 9 knots, or 4.6 m/s. The momentum of that ship was 460,000,000 newton/sec. The supports would have had to be prohibitively large to withstand an impact like that. 100,000 tons is the weight of an aircraft carrier. I have no idea what went wrong with the power on that ship, but I think it’s more important to make sure those ships have multiple redundant fail safes.

Units for momentum is newton-sec (not Newton/sec).

I have given up trying to fix the science illiteracy.

Anonymous wrote:They need to set up a ferry for locals. Something like within X miles of the bridge and only provide it for locals.

I cant imagine living in Sparrows Point and commuting to Glen Burnie for work and then your 20 min commute turns into 1.5 hours. Or vice versa. The surrounding areas are mostly working class and cannot afford this- in time or in funds.

I am somewhat familiar with both of these areas. I just did a Google map search and it would take 35 minutes using the Ft McHenry tunnell. It's not great but it's not 1.5 hours.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the update. Now I understand about the vehicles Wow kudos to police for getting there and stopping traffic. This could have been so much worse. It is horrible for the workers though because it seems to be recovery now. I don’t think anyone is going to feel good going over a suspension bridge and seeing a boat near. Of all the things I have worried about..this was not in the kit but is now for sure. I hope there is a mandate for bridges like this to have some of the safety measures the Sunshine bridge in Florida has after their collapse in 1980. Apparently the new bridge has something underwater that forces a boat away if it comes too close to
pilings. This should be retrofitted for all these large suspension bridges.

Construction started for this bridge in 1972 and completed in '77, before the Sunshine bridge collapse. New bridges are built to withstand greater boat impacts (but the Dali really is gigantic - I wonder if newer bridges would have withstood a direct hit like this).

The natural thing is to fixate on the failure of the bridge and there are certainly many lessons to be learned. It sounds like there could have been a few protective “dolphins” to protect the supports, but the angle of the ship rendered them useless.

The failure that I think we should fixate more on for the future is the ship. That cargo ship was enormous and might have weighed 100,000 metric tons. Or 100,000,000 kgs. It was traveling at 9 knots, or 4.6 m/s. The momentum of that ship was 460,000,000 newton/sec. The supports would have had to be prohibitively large to withstand an impact like that. 100,000 tons is the weight of an aircraft carrier. I have no idea what went wrong with the power on that ship, but I think it’s more important to make sure those ships have multiple redundant fail safes.

Units for momentum is newton-sec (not Newton/sec).

Some updates here from the AP
https://apnews.com/article/baltimore-key-bridge-collapse-03-27-2024-6a95340e5daeff6551fc999d23feb278

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Still confused how the shipping container hit the pillars even if it did lose power…

Get on a boat. It doesn't have stop on a dime breaks. Or rudders that work powerless.

Question: Does anyone know what happens when a boat this big loses power? I would have assumed that there would be some sort of backup generator, and an emergency backup to the backup for at least a short time in an emergency. Yes, I’m asking this question in total ignorance— but I’m still interested in knowing more about what the standards would be.

The puff of black smoke coming from the ship in the video is said to be the firing up of the diesel backup generator.

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Anonymous wrote:Still confused how the shipping container hit the pillars even if it did lose power…

Get on a boat. It doesn't have stop on a dime breaks. Or rudders that work powerless.

Plus it is the size of the Empire State Building. You can just put the brakes on.

This thread has been surprising, highlighting many people's lack of general knowledge about water safety, boats and bodies of water. That has scary implications for drowning risks when they head off to the beach or river. You don't need to be expert, but getting a bit of knowledge makes sense.

I’m not sure why you’re surprised. Most people don’t live near bodies of water, and most Americans have never been on a boat. Of those that have, it’s often occasional trips on ferry boats or sightseeing boats vs ongoing experience that include training in water safety. Perhaps you’re expecting more from the DCUM crowd?

This may add to your distress. I lived and worked in Baltimore for many years, and actually lived in a building with a marina. I was startled by how much open access there was to water, especially in the downtown neighborhoods— and how few of the people I met who grew up in Baltimore knew how to swim.

How far can you swim in 45F water? A mile? Knowing how to swim isn't exactly going to help in this situation.

I’m sorry if I worded this poorly. I was pointing out a second problem — that not only do people lack the “general knowledge “ that the PP described, even people living in waterfront neighborhoods may not know how to swim. I didn’t intend to suggest that swimming skills would have necessarily helped in a tragedy like this.

If it has nothing to do with this tragedy, then why are you bringing it up on this thread?

Because it was tangentially relevant — unlike your trolling.

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Anonymous wrote:Why are people marking themselves safe from the bridge collapse on FB?

The media quickly quantified the limited number of victims.

It’s the worst kind of attention seeking.

To be fair, it’s probably easier than answering countless texts from friends/family who know little beyond “key bridge in Baltimore collapses.”

It happened in the middle of the night during the work week (not weekend), and the people I see doing it are older white women who don’t live anywhere near the bridge and wouldn’t be out that late at night. It’s so weird.

It’s a gross joke. The “marked safe from X” has been a joke on FB for years. Anyone doing that after this tragedy would be unfriended and cut from my life.

DP

The people I see doing it are older white women who are posting lots of news updates. They aren’t poking fun. They are genuinely concerned. They’re just trying to center themselves in it…and it’s weird.

I also think it’s weird to post links to news stories about it when it’s literally the top story on every site and naturally popping up in everyone’s feed. [/DP

The people I see doing it are older white women who are posting lots of news updates. They aren’t poking fun. They are genuinely concerned. They’re just trying to center themselves in it…and it’s weird.

I also think it’s weird to post links to news stories about it when it’s literally the top story on every site and naturally popping up in everyone’s feed.

DP also. Enough of this please, folks . I understand that it feels good to virtue signal about "white women", but maybe try asking people why they're marking themselves safe. The FB people I know doing it explained that it was easier than answering all the texts/emails etc asking if they were okay. It is wasn't immediately clear that police had been able to stop traffic.