Cargo Ship Crashes into Baltimore (US) Bridge

[lazarus]

Major disaster... Baltimore, MD, US.

 

[forcebwithu]

They're still calling it a rescue operation, but given the low water temps it's doubtful at this point in time that they will rescue more than the two that have already been saved. Can't begin to imagine the death toll if this had happened during the day.

 

[KWA]

They installed pier defences on one of our local big bridges to withstand shipping collisions but not sure if they would stand up to someting as big as this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forth_Road_Bridge#Tolls

 

[lazarus]

How the Key Bridge Collapsed in Baltimore: Maps and Photos

Free link: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/03/26/us/baltimore-key-bridge-collapse-maps.html?unlocked_article_code=1.fk0.BcHe.dsWuzrlmTTRQ&smid=url-share

[Lirchenfeld]

There must be an embarrassed pilot in Baltimore who is looking for a new job now....

[KWA]

Just now, Lirchenfeld said:

There must be an embarrassed pilot in Baltimore who is looking for a new job now....

There have been reports all the lights on board went out and they reported loss of propulsion a few minutes before the collision.

[Freee!!]

6 hours ago, KWA said:

There have been reports all the lights on board went out 

Visible in the video in the first post.

6 hours ago, KWA said:

and they reported loss of propulsion a few minutes before the collision.

And the rudder isn't mechanically connected to the steering wheel either anymore.

[Mr. Smooth]

Latest report is that as of 0600 Wednesday EDT, authorities will begin a recovery operation for what is presumed to be any missing bodies. With the lack of vision, the ebb and flow of the water via the tides, plus the broken structural parts of the bridge itself, this is going to represent a tremendous challenge for the divers and rescue operations to conduct.

What an absolute tragic event and as was posted earlier, it would have been catastrophic had this happened in daylight hours, or especially during commute hours.

[forcebwithu]

Amazing only six are missing.

I noticed in the OP's video you can see vehicle traffic on the bridge up until just before the collision. From the news report someone on the bridge heard the ship's mayday call and reacted quickly enough to stop traffic. Hats off to those that heard the call and blocked traffic as they saved many lives.

RIP to the workers that were working directly above the collision point and fell to their deaths.

Six presumed dead after cargo ship crash levels Baltimore bridge, company says

...
Jeffrey Pritzker, executive vice president of Brawner Builders, confirmed that six were presumed dead and one survived during a telephone interview with NBC News. Their names were not released.

Pritzker's announcement came just hours after Maryland Gov. Wes Moore insisted there was still hope that the crew, who vanished after the Francis Scott Key Bridge disintegrated from the impact, might still be found alive despite having been in the freezing water for hours.
...
Moore said there might have been drivers in the water were it not for the “folks” who, upon hearing the mayday, blocked off the bridge and kept other cars from crossing.

“These people are heroes,” Moore said. “They saved lives. They saved lives.”
...
Maryland Department of Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld said the workers on the bridge were repairing concrete ducts when the ship crashed into the structure.

At least seven workers were pouring concrete to fix potholes on the roadway on the bridge directly above where the ship hit, a foreman named James Krutzfeldt said.
...

[Yessongs]

@lazarus Matt, ever wonder if this could happen at The Golden Gate Bridge? 

[Freee!!]

3 minutes ago, Yessongs said:

@lazarus Matt, ever wonder if this could happen at The Golden Gate Bridge? 

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/could-sf-golden-gate-bridge-collapse-19370020.php

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2024-03-26/are-californias-big-bridges-safe-from-cargo-ships

 

From what I could find (links to articles beyond a wall), ships have collided with the Golden Gate bridge.

 

[lazarus]

3 hours ago, Yessongs said:

@lazarus Matt, ever wonder if this could happen at The Golden Gate Bridge? 

According to TV news reports tonight both Bay bridges have concrete 'crunch' areas around the towers.

. . .

Why experts say what happened in Baltimore won't happen to a Bay Area bridge

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/could-sf-golden-gate-bridge-collapse-19370020.php

... The iconic Golden Gate Bridge has “the most robust protection system of any bridge on the West Coast,” according to Paolo Cosulich-Schwartz, the director of public affairs for the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, the state agency that manages the bridge. 

Early Tuesday morning, the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore plunged into the water after a ship lost power and slammed into one of its supports. Cosulich-Schwartz said it would be impossible for any ship to get close to either of the Golden Gate Bridge’s two towers.

“The North Tower is half on land and half in the water, and a large vessel would run aground before colliding with the pier,” Cosulich-Schwartz wrote in an email. 

The south tower is anchored to bedrock underwater and surrounded by what’s known as a fender, a protective shield designed to prevent ships from hitting a bridge’s piers, Cosulich-Schwartz said...

... Caltrans manages the Bay Area’s other seven major toll bridges: the Antioch, Benicia-Martinez, Carquinez, Dumbarton, Richmond-San Rafael, San Francisco-Oakland Bay and San Mateo-Hayward bridges. All of them have protection systems in place, according to Caltrans spokesperson Bart Ney. 

Ney said the strategy to protect the bridges is mostly the same at all of them — with fenders in place — but that the particular systems are “different for each bridge,” depending on several factors, including the type of bridge and the depth of the bay at that location. 

In the past 20 years, there have been two significant “maritime allisions” — the term used to describe a moving ship hitting a bridge — in the Bay Area. Both occurred at the Bay Bridge. In 2007, a container ship called the Cosco Busan hit the bridge’s fender at the second tower west of Yerba Buena Island...

Edited March 27 by lazarus
....

[Zeb]

The Key Bridge was completed in 1977, design would have started around 1970. Large scale fender protection of piers was not required then in USA (or Australia).

In Australia the Derwent River Bridge collapse (hit by the bulk carrier Lake Illawarra) was in 1975. It did not have pier protection then either.

Those design rules changed in the late 70s, so bridges like Brisbane Gateway opening in 1986 had small islands built around the piers so that an errant ship would go aground before it hit the piers. This is the standard modern method of protection.

It really is true that the size of container ships has grown enormously in between. Now 200,000 to 300,000 tonne container ships are common. The Dali at 100,000 tonnes is at the smaller end of modern container ships. But it is still huge compared to 1970s ships.

Containerised freight was only invented by the US army during the Vietnam War to reduce theft in shipping. They found it also greatly reduced freight handling costs, and so it led to a revolution in freight shipping. Container ships could be loaded/unloaded much faster. This made it more attractive to have bigger ships.

So in WWII a cargo ship like a Liberty ship was around 10,000 tonnes.

In the post war period (50s to 70s) the standard large cargo ship size was a “Panamax” at 40,000 tonnes. This allowed easy passage of the Panama Canal.

In the 80s and 90s the larger “Cape Size” ships grew common, at around 100,000 tonnes. They were called “Cape Size” because they were too large for the Panama and Suez Canals, hence they typically sailed around Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope.

Since 2000 the Panama and Suez canals have both been widened and the sky is the limit. We see numerous container ships of up to 300,000 tonnes and some oil tankers at over 500,000 tonnes. With automation it takes the same crew number to sail a Panamax (15 or so) as a 500,000 tonne super tanker. So there are big economies of scale going to bigger ships.

Morale of the story: no 1970s bridge was designed to take a hit from a 100,000 tonne ship. There is certainly a case to retrofit all those era bridges with pier protection. Since the 1980s most transport agencies barely have enough money to maintain their existing assets, so refits rarely happen.

It also depends on bridge type. A suspension or concrete arch type bridge has much thicker piers, and so would be much less vulnerable.

Edited March 27 by Zeb

[forcebwithu]

More details on how LEO's reacted quickly to shut down the bridge with the last vehicle exiting less than 30 seconds before the collapse of the bridge.

 

[Glasseye]

The lawsuits will be astronomical. The insurance companies will go belly up. The legal cases will take years to settle.

Sure would have hated to be working that shift. What a fcuking nightmare.

 

A few heads will be rolling.

[Freee!!]

2 hours ago, Glasseye said:

The lawsuits will be astronomical.

As it happened in the USA, that is a given.

2 hours ago, Glasseye said:

The insurance companies will go belly up.

Doubtful, most if not all insurance companies re-insure to avoid that problem.

2 hours ago, Glasseye said:

The legal cases will take years to settle.

As it happened in the USA, that again is a given.

2 hours ago, Glasseye said:

Sure would have hated to be working that shift. What a fcuking nightmare.

AMEN!

2 hours ago, Glasseye said:

A few heads will be rolling.

Call me Thomas, I'll have to see it before I believe it.

[Horizondave]

9 hours ago, Yessongs said:

@lazarus Matt, ever wonder if this could happen at The Golden Gate Bridge? 

If it does, it will give you another photo opportunity lol

[Horizondave]

Very tragic event but probably going to cause mayhem with the need for many to get to work.

Looking at a map of Baltimore, it does look like that bridge was a saviour for many to get about; looks like detours for many during rush hour and basic traffic chaos for months, if not longer.

Edited March 27 by Horizondave

[Zambo]

I worked on a bridge once that had a high main span because there was a shipyard upstream that wanted the option to be able to take larger vessels. In that case protection was required at the piers for the vessels that could pass through.

But in this case the size of vessel that hit the bridge wasn't meant to be there, defences could have been made downstream of the bridge. But the cost would be huge.

[Freee!!]

45 minutes ago, Zambo said:

I worked on a bridge once that had a high main span because there was a shipyard upstream that wanted the option to be able to take larger vessels. In that case protection was required at the piers for the vessels that could pass through.

But in this case the size of vessel that hit the bridge wasn't meant to be there, defences could have been made downstream of the bridge. But the cost would be huge.

In this case the defenses were needed upstream of the bridge.

[Zambo]

1 minute ago, Freee!! said:

In this case the defenses were needed upstream of the bridge.

Whether it is power plants or rivers there is no doubt i'm going to get the term wrong.

[Glasseye]

7 hours ago, Freee!! said:

As it happened in the USA, that is a given.

Doubtful, most if not all insurance companies re-insure to avoid that problem.

As it happened in the USA, that again is a given.

AMEN!

Call me Thomas, I'll have to see it before I believe it.

 

Ok Thomas. 

 

I used to work with a "risk manager" (basically an insurance guy). The stories and insight he gave me ref. insurance was dumbfounding. 

[ChiFlyer]

This is indeed a tragic event and my heart goes out to the affected families.

On the other side of the coin, Jordan Klepper goes after the news reporting.

 

[Freee!!]

20 minutes ago, Glasseye said:

Ok Thomas. 

 

I used to work with a "risk manager" (basically an insurance guy). The stories and insight he gave me ref. insurance was dumbfounding. 

Fair enough, but the only heads that will be rolling will be those of the people responsible for the lack of protective measures around (the pillars of) the bridge. Engine failures do happen, also aboard ships. If I am not mistaken, the ship was registered in Singapore, in which case it was probably well maintained.

[Glasseye]

8 minutes ago, Freee!! said:

Fair enough, but the only heads that will be rolling will be those of the people responsible for the lack of protective measures around (the pillars of) the bridge. Engine failures do happen, also aboard ships. If I am not mistaken, the ship was registered in Singapore, in which case it was probably well maintained.

 

Multiple failures across the board. Which is often the case.