Baltimore Major Bridge Collapse

[oldag]

From the article....

"The freight was valued at $1.2 million."

That doesn't sound right to me.

Ramen noodles?

Naw, even a ship that size couldn't hold $1.2M of ramen noodles.

 

[popper]

Cape Henry - only one I know by that name is at Norfolk. Our pilots left near Hunter's point in SF bay. Or the airport in S.D. bay. Once in the channel, on your own.

 

[roadkill]

From the article....

"The freight was valued at $1.2 million."

That doesn't sound right to me.

We’re an importer of freight, not necessarily an exporter and the ship was outbound at the time of collapse. I bet over 3/4 of those containers were empty being returned to be refilled. Or filled with cheap stuff like grains/hay.

 

[DoubleDuty]

They may have been limited as to where and when they could drop one or more anchors due to underwater pipes and cables! And, the two pilots on board would have been fully cognizant of those limitations.

This is what happened in the Straits of Mackinac just 6 years ago.

Damage of anchor strike to Straits of Mackinac pipeline finally revealed

"The Great Lakes barely dodged a bullet," in April 2018 anchor strike on underwater Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac, a Straits pipeline critic said.

www.freep.com

Dropping anchors on a 95000 ton ship moving at 9 knots was not feasible.

 

[msharley]

Perhaps but the conspiracy theorists have had a pretty good track record post 2020

Since 19 & 63....


Your Gov't is at your service......

 

[Big Dipper]

Cape Henry - only one I know by that name is at Norfolk. Our pilots left near Hunter's point in SF bay. Or the airport in S.D. bay. Once in the channel, on your own.

“The Association of Maryland Pilots Lower Bay Station is next door to the Virginia Pilots. The Maryland pilots board ships entering the Chesapeake and guide them up the bay to the port of Baltimore. The Virginia pilots guide ships bound for the ports of Hampton Roads and other Virginia ports. The run from the station in the Lynnhaven Inlet to the buoy marking Cape Henry where the pilot boards inbound ships or disembarks outbound ships is about a 30-minute ride in the launches.”

Maryland pilot boats still going strong

I recently rode along with the crew of the Patuxent, one of the Maryland Pilots’ launches. The 52' aluminum deep-V pilot boat, built by Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding in 2003, is a Chesapeake-class C.

www.workboat.com

 

[Younggun]

Worth noting: Pilots are on board to assist the captains. They are not in command of or control of the ship.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

I thought they actually had control while on board.
Guess I was wrong.

 

[no2gates]

From the article....

"The freight was valued at $1.2 million."

That doesn't sound right to me.

I can believe it since it was leaving the port. Probably on the backhaul leg.
If it was coming *in* from somewhere like China, it would probably be worth over 10 times that amount.
Not sure it we export much anymore unfortunately.

 

[popper]

Thanks Dipper - didn't know that.
Interesting read. https://www.workboat.com/coastal-in...ing-fatigue-led-deadly-hudson-tugboat-sinking

 

[Younggun]

I thought they actually had control while on board.
Guess I was wrong.

It was a big thing during the Evergreen mess. There was some discussion about the conversations happening on the bridge and how the pilot and captain were interacting.

But what I took from it was that the pilot is there to advise the captain on where the ship should be, currents, winds, and anything else specific to the area. It’s the captains job to command the ship and put it in the areas that it should be in.

So the pilot might say “there’s a sting current at the upcoming bend that will push us and you will need to compensate for it, I recommend xxxx”. Captain will decide how to make that happen.

It makes sense since the captiain should have a much better idea of how a particular ship will handle and react when attempting to put it where it should be.

 

[Grumps21]

From the article....

"The freight was valued at $1.2 million."

That doesn't sound right to me.

Sounds like the article might be missing some zeros. I have to think that even the empty containers would be worth more than that.

 

[no2gates]

Sounds like the article might be missing some zeros. I have to think that even the empty containers would be worth more than that.

Good point since that's a pretty big ship and looks like it would hold at least 5000 containers. I'm going to assume those things are worth at least 3 to 5 grand each.

 

[Grumps21]

Good point since that's a pretty big ship and looks like it would hold at least 5000 containers. I'm going to assume those things are worth at least 3 to 5 grand each.

Last voyage containers - the used up ones that end up as storage barns in the pasture are what, $2500? There’s markup as they change hands, so my uninformed guess is something along what you posted.

 

[majormadmax]

Port Of Baltimore Channel To Fully Reopen By End Of May, One-Way Ship Traffic By End Of April​

​

"Sooner than most people thought possible, the Port of Baltimore will begin letting ships pass through the site of the Key Bridge collapse. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) announced on Thursday their phased plan to open a channel large enough for commercial traffic to pass through and the Port to resume normal operations.

USACE expect to open “a limited access channel 280 feet wide and 35 feet deep, to the Port of Baltimore within the next four weeks—by the end of April.” The agency says a channel of that size would allow for one-way traffic in and out of the Port for barge container service and some roll on/roll off vessels that carry vehicles and farm equipment to and from the port..."

(Full story at title link)

 

[DoubleDuty]

Money can get shit done

 

[Gordo]

35' will only allow some of the ships to enter, the big container ships need the original 50' depth.
Plus, they are talking about a possible fuel leak now.

 

[majormadmax]

Money can get shit done

So can the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers!!

 

[Double Naught Spy]

So can the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers!!

They don't work for free. They have $124 million in the budget just to dredge the harbor for this deal.

 

[majormadmax]

They don't work for free. They have $124 million in the budget just to dredge the harbor for this deal.

Never said they did, but were you expecting this to get done for free?!?