OT: Francis Scott Key Bridge Hit by Cargo Ship. Entire bridge collapses.

[Joey007]

Not exactly story you expect to hear in 2024. Crazy.

 

[DaBruinz]

Apparently, this isn’t the first incident with this ship:

Cargo ship that hit Baltimore bridge was involved in Antwerp collision in 2016 — Guardian US

The Dali was reportedly detained in Belgium after scraping side of quay and significantly damaging part of hull in good weather

apple.news

Not sure about what happened in Antwerp, but the people Piloting the ship at the time were the Local Harbor Pilots.. Not the captain.

 

[jmt57]

In 1980 there was a similar mishap on the Skyway Bridge, that passes over Tampa Bay just before the bay becomes part of the Gulf of Mexico.

After they rebuilt the bridge, it was protected by a series of immense concrete barriers and protective pilings to insure something similar could never happen again.

I'm surprised that similar protective barriers were not in place in the water with the bridge in Baltimore - or with any large bridge such as this one.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqsWI3QQS-20nATMxL4krrl2jF6nGgw2vLFqFk****EAh2LyJzmsYLO0qnabEAunzBwdXvbJKjwPSYocZhWxqRWCaYcYbizcf-sqF5M3PwfaVPzcmAGqvAHcm8p0hDAl6IXwS-7dUUj9O8/s1600/K893521.jpg

 

[jboston19]

Not sure about what happened in Antwerp, but the people Piloting the ship at the time were the Local Harbor Pilots.. Not the captain.

Aside from the Panama Canal and dry docks, captains are still responsible. Pilots may have the sweetest job on earth.

 

[Ian]

Going off of @jmt57 ’s post:

 

[DaBruinz]

Can’t believe how fast it went down. Brings back memories of the Minneapolis bridge.

I believe it came down so quickly because of how it was constructed. The two main trusses on either side constituted the 3rd longest continuous truss in the World at over 1200 ft. As such, there were no joints that would shear, so the entire massive span just came down.

I got to listen to a deep water salvage guy who works out of Australia. He was saying that, because of the depth (about 50 ft), it's actually going to take upwards of 2-3 months to get everything out before the waterway is usable. As it turns out, the Dali's draft was 42ft.. So that doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room depth wise so they're going to have to be real thorough.

 

[Bill Lee]

The ship was under charter.

Let's see how that stands up in court.

 

[DaBruinz]

Going off of @jmt57 ’s post:

This is the "fenders" that it had bollards nearly 500 ft in front of the stanchion. There was an earlier picture that showed the **** was actually against the one on the lower left. Which could explain why there was Diesel fuel leaking as of 6:15 am.


EDIT: The bridge was designed in 1968. Not sure that they had 95,000 cargo ships at the time. The Dali isn't even one of the SuperContainer ships that are 236,000 tons.

Just looked it up. The Largest container ship in 1968 was 1,530 TEUs (14,500 tons). The DALI is 10,000 TEUs. The SuperContainers hold 24,346 TEUs.

 

[DaBruinz]

The ship was under charter.

US Owned. Singaporean Flagged.

 

[Bill Lee]

Not sure about what happened in Antwerp, but the people Piloting the ship at the time were the Local Harbor Pilots.. Not the captain.

It doesn't seem to be an issue of pilotage, it seems to be an issue of maintenance, given that we see the ship lose all power twice.

 

[PatsFan2]

Just before 1:30 am EDT, a Cargo Ship supposedly had a mechanical malfunction and slammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge at the mouth of Baltimore harbor. The resulting collision caused the entire 8,636 ft long bridge to collapse, taking an known number of passenger vehicles and semi trucks into the bay mouth of the harbor.

The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore has collapsed after being struck by a large ship, videos show

"All lanes closed both directions for incident on I-695 Key Bridge. Traffic is being detoured," the Maryland Transportation Authority said on X.

www.businessinsider.com

EDIT: The video below is constantly updating as it's a LIVESTREAM. Look for the timestamp of 1:24 AM to watch it in it's entirety. It seems to hit the Stanchion at 1:28:41 am.


(-2:11:27 of video)

Prayers for the families of those affected by this tragedy.

Yes indeed I was on that very bridge not too long ago.

 

[DaBruinz]

It doesn't seem to be an issue of pilotage, it seems to be an issue of maintenance, given that we see the ship lose all power twice.

The way that it was explained was that the 1st blink was the main power going out. The 2nd was whichever generator they turned on not doing it's job and them crew switching Gennies.

You're probably right. It's probably a maintenance issue. We'll see what the investigation turns up.

In the meantime, Maryland and the US Govt are going to have to scramble to get the channel cleaned up and it's going to cost tens of millions.. I don't know how long 1M worth of bridge is going to cost, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it hit $20B.

 

[rochrist]

Let's see how that stands up in court.

Not sure why the wouldn't be suing the, you know, actual operators of the ship.

 

[rochrist]

It doesn't seem to be an issue of pilotage, it seems to be an issue of maintenance, given that we see the ship lose all power twice.

Ship has just recently passed it's coast guard inspection with no issues.

 

[DaBruinz]

Not sure why the wouldn't be suing the, you know, actual operators of the ship.

I'm sure there is going to be lawsuits all over the place. As it is, the Business Interruption for insurance purposes is going to be a nightmare. Baltimore is the 8th business port in the US with over 700K ships yearly. And I'm sure the Insurance Companies are going to want to recoup their losses as well.

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

It will be interesting to see how long it takes them to rebuild. A truck fire in Philly caused part of I-95 to collapse and closed the highway for what was thought to be months. New governor got it rebuilt in 14 days, earning praise from all sides, shocking in this atmosphere....

 

[BTTA]

Feeling dense here - still not seeing the Ray Lewis connection.

 

[TomPatriot]

Ship is owned by Maersk, an international corporation valued at $25B.

I hope they are made to pay for all expenses, including compensation to the victims.

P & I Club for owner and/or charterer pays.

 

[scott99]

There was a road maintenance crew on the bridge.

That's so sad. They had no time to prepare.

 

[Bill Lee]

Not sure why the wouldn't be suing the, you know, actual operators of the ship.

Lawyers sue anyone even tangentially related that has deep pockets.

Ship has just recently passed it's coast guard inspection with no issues.

Recently is last September, so not really exoneration.