Baltimore Major Bridge Collapse

[msharley]

Prayers up for all the Victims & their Families.....

 

[Gordo]

Pretty non-existent protection on that bridge, one pylon about 500 feet out, and one with a pole 2-3 times as far out.
Like ships never veer off course, right?
Good channel on YouTube called 'Whats going on with shipping' pretty much explained how the ship turned so quickly.
1) it was traveling very fast for leaving a harbor, just over 8 knots. (fast for a 100,000 ton ship)
2) Lost power twice.
3) Tried to reverse, instead of stearing out of it, causing the ship to totally loose control, and start turning.

Thankfully, the ship declared a May Day when it first lost power, and bridge control was able to stop traffic.
Unfortunately, not enough time to get the road crew off the bridge,
Two bridge crew survived, one with no injuries, the other in serious condition.

 

[popper]

Yup, 8 knots is too fast.

 

[Gordo]

I think 'Whats Going On In Shipping' said that it had slowed to 6 when it hit.
100,000 tons is one hell of a dead blow hammer.

 

[majormadmax]

And because you work in one of those "cyber - & our intel agencies" as a janitor
everyone is wrong except you?

No matter what the real issue was, there will always be someone trying to convince us that their assessment is the correct one.

Believe what you want, but there are those who have access to more information and know more than you.

And your janitor quip was a really humorous one, especially given the source!

 

[majormadmax]

Yup, the channel will be cleared and the port will continue to operate, but the bottleneck will still be the roads/congestion.

I lived in the DMV for way too many years, and my daughter lives in Baltimore now (unfortunately), so I'm familiar with the roads and traffic also. There are other routes through and around the city but they were barely able to hold their own before, the additional traffic hitting them will be interesting for traffic engineers but will be hell on commuters.

There's a reason that folks will drive from the suburbs of Baltimore to fly out of Dulles or Reagan instead of BWI and it's not because of ticket prices....

I lived ten minutes from the Francis Scott Key Bridge for years, and have been back to the area numerous times since. The entire corridor from Baltimore to Washington is a cluster, and this will make getting from one point to the other an even bigger pain; but to spout this was a deliberate act and will have a huge impact on the nation's economy is a huge stretch!

 

[majormadmax]

It looks like police officers had actually stopped all incoming traffic from going into the bridge and the 6 souls lost were from the construction crew that was not warned in time to evacuate.

According to this report several vehicles fell in the water but they believe they were unoccupied a this time.

Baltimore bridge collapses after powerless cargo ship rams into support column; 6 presumed dead

Baltimore Francis Scott Key bridge collapses. Live Updates

apnews.com

 

[Ausländer]

I lived ten minutes from the Francis Scott Key Bridge for years, and have been back to the area numerous times since. The entire corridor from Baltimore to Washington is a cluster, and this will make getting from one point to the other an even bigger pain; but to spout this was a deliberate act and will have a huge impact on the nation's economy is a huge stretch!

I'm sorry you had to live there, but you have me and someone else confused - I never "spouted" anything about this being a deliberate act or mentioned the nation's economy.

It will have an impact on Baltimore's economy until it back up and running normally though - shipping lanes, rail and highways.

"The Port's private and public terminals handled 847,158 autos and light trucks in 2023, the most of any U.S. port for the thirteenth straight year.

In 2023, the Port ranked first in the nation in handling automobiles, light trucks, farm and construction machinery, as well as imported sugar and gypsum. The Port ranked second in the country for exporting coal. In 2022, the Port ranked sixth for importing coffee, 119,000 tons worth $609 million."

Port of Baltimore, Maryland

msa.maryland.gov

 

[popsgarland]

Believe what you want, but there are those who have access to more information and know more than you.

And your janitor quip was a really humorous one, especially given the source!

You would be presently surprised to know very much about me. Don't think that your
the only one who access to certain information.

I'm so very happy that you liked my little quip about the janitor. You need to lighten up a little.
And do you remember what to do if you can't take a joke?

 

[Double Naught Spy]

I always assume incompetence first. There will be an investigation, but we'll probably never know the full story. All I know is the port being shut down from this is bad. Very bad.

We seem to have plenty of incompetence in this country and a lot of broken infrastructure.

Looking at before and after images, the bridge's defenses from ship's appear to be minimal and not up to modern standards. When you see the pylons going straight into the water and not surrounding by large rock, concrete, etc. (some have hydraulic barriers) the bridge is largely unprotected from ship impacts. The bridge pylons or supports should look like they are rises out of what would look like ship-shaped islands. These islands are supposed to help deflect ships away from the supports so as to leave the bridge still standing, but they didn't use them much in 1977 when the bridge was built and the bridge was not retrofitted.

Such defenses are not absolutes, just like having a gun doesn't mean you won't get shot, but having said defenses ups the safety of the bridge considerably overall.

It was a non-redundant, continuous suspension bridge. If part failed, it was all going to fail.

 

[DoubleDuty]

"In a strike of blind luck, the moment the ship hits the bridge and it collapses, passing traffic appears to be very light compared to the number of cars and trucks present on the bridge just minutes earlier.

The MV Dali approaches from the north-east but approximately four minutes and 20 seconds before impact all lights aboard the ship go out, a clear indication of a total onboard loss of power. One minute and ten seconds after this visual indication that all is not well onboard some lights are restored, and they continue to turn on and off to varying degrees until the collision.

During these last minutes, the MV Dali turns sharply — particularly for a ship of its size — to starboard, putting it on course for the bridge support. From three minutes until impact until the strike a very large plume of thick, dark smoke appears to pour from the ship’s chimney, indicative of either the engine working very hard or a fire onboard. In the case of the crew being aware of the imminent disaster and attempting to prevent the collision, the volume of smoke would likely mean failed engines being restarted or — if already running after the total electrical failure — the engines being put under a high load to slow the ship down."

The ship notified that they were going to collide with the bridge and construction workers managed to control more traffic from getting onto the bridge. The container ship apparently lost power.

 

[popper]

Will take a week to get it running again, large seabound crane to pull the remains apart. Re-build the bridge? Who knows

 

[kbaxter60]

Will take a week to get it running again, large seabound crane to pull the remains apart. Re-build the bridge? Who knows

Yeah, will be interesting. They said the original took five years.

 

[TheDan]

"The Port's private and public terminals handled 847,158 autos and light trucks in 2023, the most of any U.S. port for the thirteenth straight year.

In 2023, the Port ranked first in the nation in handling automobiles, light trucks, farm and construction machinery, as well as imported sugar and gypsum. The Port ranked second in the country for exporting coal. In 2022, the Port ranked sixth for importing coffee, 119,000 tons worth $609 million."

Yeah, the port being shutdown is a very big deal. Nearly everything I order from Europe has come through Balitmore. I expect to be directly affected, if only by delays and increased prices.

 

[Colonel]

Yeah, will be interesting. They said the original took five years.

FJB will be happy to sign another Trillion dollar spending bill

 

[BigRed]

Have our "allies" announced how much foreign aid they will be sending for the rebuild?

 

[Gordo]

Port ranked sixth for importing coffee, 119,000 tons worth $609 million."

Port of Baltimore, Maryland

msa.maryland.gov

Oh Frucking S#it!
Not Coffee!
Tell me it's not so!
Heading out now to stock up.
Do they take ammo in trade?
I remember the last time there was a problem with coffee, and the price jumped, and never really came down.

 

[Gordo]

Have our "allies" announced how much foreign aid they will be sending for the rebuild?

Don't hold your breath...

 

[wakosama]

per BBC the 'crew' were all from India...

Baltimore Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse: What we know about ship and bridge

How events unfolded when a cargo ship crashed into and destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

www.bbc.com

 

[DoubleDuty]

Well I guess the new bridge will be a lot sturdier. Since Vegetable Joe said we are going to pay for it. How about the shipping company pays for it.