Baltimore Bridge.

How fast must this ship have been going?
It must have hit the bridge pillar with such a mighty force.

She struck the southwest support column at a speed of 7.6 knots (8.7 MPH).

Cameras from the Vessel Traffic Service captured footage of the collision and subsequent collapse. The ship’s lights went out twice before the collision, indicating possible issues in the engine room. Despite the quick restoration of lighting, this suggests a full blackout occurred, prompting the emergency generator to restore basic electrical services and lighting.

Without propulsion or tugboats, a ship this size is nearly impossible to stop.

The emergency generator does not connect to propulsion but should support steering and navigation systems but the ships heading appears to have been pushed off course by the wind directly into the support column.

Ships are not required to have tugboat escorts when passing under the Francis Scott Key Bridge so they have limited ability to slow down on their own when they lose power and can not put the propeller into reverse.

gcaptain.com/ship-lost-control-before-hitting-baltimore-bridge/

MayBee70

Witzend

There must surely have been something seriously amiss with the design, for the whole thing to collapse like that? Once he’s home I will consult dh - retired civil engineer.

After9/11 I read that American building regulations aren’t as stringent as ours. Not sure how true that is.

Certainly our collapsing schools indicate our building regulations aren't as stringent as they should be.

terrible tragedy the bridge collapsed like a pack of cards, must have been hit by some force

The fact that ships aren’t assisted by tugs in navigating through this bridge is going to be very important I think. Arguably such a system could have prevented the collision. Seeing it with my lawyer’s hat on, it’s fascinating - but in reality a terrible tragedy in which lives have been lost, less importantly money lost, and a number of parties are likely to face years of litigation.

pably15

terrible tragedy the bridge collapsed like a pack of cards, must have been hit by some force

The ship was going relatively slowly but obviously it was a very large vessel.

And fully laden - many, many tons.

I read just now that the construction of the bridge was not the best, who knows what the investigation will reveal. Tragic for those people on the bridge at the time.

I couldn't get over how much cargo is on that container ship. It's a miracle that it floats at all.
I was also astonished about how fragile that bridge was. I would have expected each segment to be self-contained from a safety perspective but I know nothing about engineering , civil or otherwise so will be interested to see other people's comments.

It’s usual to see cargo ships loaded to that extent - I expect many goods we buy would be much more expensive without these huge cargo ships, fully laden,

It was a freak accident,reported it lost power, so steering gone.
The ship quickly sent out a mayday call so the bridge was closed to traffic, saving many lives.Yes, an old bridge and probably not meant for a collision with todays container ships.

Oreo

It was a freak accident,reported it lost power, so steering gone.
The ship quickly sent out a mayday call so the bridge was closed to traffic, saving many lives.Yes, an old bridge and probably not meant for a collision with todays container ships.

I thought it was built in the 70’s - that’s not old by my standards.

The Baltimore bridge, known more simply as the Key Bridge, was opened in 1977 in honour of Francis Scott Key, a 19th Century Maryland poet

But it did go down like matchsticks didn’t it?

karmalady

Depends when it was built and the traffic it was designed for, early bridges may not have been embedded into solid rock. It went down like a pack of unsupported cards. Many states in the US are poor, I have been watching drive through videos by Joe and Nic`s road trip. They give various statistics and I was shocked to see the poor areas and there are very many. Hence they could not afford highway maintenance

I don’t think any amount of highway maintenance would withstand a collision with a 948 ft however many thousand tonne container ship do you ?
I imagine the volume of traffic, when the built was built in 1977, was not dissimilar to that a mere 50 years on.
And actually
Maryland has the highest median household income among states for 2022, according to the U.S. Census. In 2020, Maryland ranks as second in ratio of millionaire households to total households, where 9.72% had $1 million or more in assets as reported by Phoenix Marketing International's Wealth and Affluent Monitor.

RosiesMaw

Oreo

It was a freak accident,reported it lost power, so steering gone.
The ship quickly sent out a mayday call so the bridge was closed to traffic, saving many lives.Yes, an old bridge and probably not meant for a collision with todays container ships.

I thought it was built in the 70’s - that’s not old by my standards.

The Baltimore bridge, known more simply as the Key Bridge, was opened in 1977 in honour of Francis Scott Key, a 19th Century Maryland poet

But it did go down like matchsticks didn’t it?

That’s what is the most worrying aspect I think. You’d expect the section of the bridge that was hit to fall down when hit with that weight, but it seemed like a domino effect on the structure, there can’t have been enough other supporting pillars, or it would have remained standing for more of the length of the bridge?

RosiesMaw 😁
Not far off 50 years, so yes quite old, haha.The bridge would have passed the test for a container ship of the time hitting it I guess.Just a relief not to have caused more casualties.

For reference

Tower Bridge 1886-94
Brooklyn Bridge. 1883
Sydney Harbour bridge 1892
San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge 1937
TBH I doubt whether any bridges built to date are designed to withstand the impact of a collision with something the size of a football stadium on water.
These massive container ships are beyond anything imagined in the past and IMO too often a catastrophe waiting to happen.
It is a miracle that more lives were not lost.

Even at 5 or 6 knots a ship that size is going to demolish most bridge supports. The bridge is a 50yr old box girder construction you wouldn’t build a bridge like that today, it will take a month to clear the debris and get the port running again then a new bridge will be built much stronger.

If they had used tugs to take the ship out to sea this catastrophe would have been averted - maybe they will do that in future.

Germanshepherdsmum

If they had used tugs to take the ship out to sea this catastrophe would have been averted - maybe they will do that in future.

There were pilots on board.

There was a malfunction which was due to dirty fuel, not necessarily fuel they had just picked up. That could be because their fuel tanks hadn't been cleaned out.

No. Asked about reports that contaminated fuel may have played a part in the crash, National transportation safety board chair (NTSB) Jennifer Homendy said it was “way too early” and that investigators will “certainly look at that” as part of their efforts.

People might like to watch this short film from Casual Navigation about why tugs can only be used in a limited capacity. They accompany the vessel out of the marine terminal until she is underway and picking up speed along the river. If they stay with her, they are at risk of capsize. They were deployed when it was know that she was veering off course but it was too late. Hard to stop the momentum of one hundred thousand tons of ship and cargo.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlIhoxIxM30

No. Asked about reports that contaminated fuel may have played a part in the crash, National transportation safety board chair (NTSB) Jennifer Homendy said it was “way too early” and that investigators will “certainly look at that” as part of their efforts.
Oh. It was reported yesterday that that was the cause of the black smoke.

TodayI saw a youtube video of the collapse, bit by bit with explanations. I saw vans and cars going across and my heart was in my mouth hoping that they would get to the other side in time. I could see traffic lights on the right side section, obviously roadworks and I think the workers there will have been lost. It all happened so quickly

Callistemon21

^No. Asked about reports that contaminated fuel may have played a part in the crash, National transportation safety board chair (NTSB) Jennifer Homendy said it was “way too early” and that investigators will “certainly look at that” as part of their efforts.^
Oh. It was reported yesterday that that was the cause of the black smoke.

Callistemon
That black smoke was probably the emergency diesel generator kicking in.

That's what somebody in an interview yesterday suggested. The interviewee also suggested that the reason the ship went off course was because only one anchor had caught. Dropping anchor in an emergency is apparently standard procedure. I think I'l wait for a report rather than speculate.

The poor men that went down with it were construction lads / men mending potholes