Question For commercial captains (Baltimore bridge collision)

[bmorescuba]

As a long time Baltimorean, we woke up to some tragic news this morning. The Francis Scott Key bridge, which spans the only way in and out of the Port of Baltimore was struck by a container ship and collapsed. It will take awhile to sort out the ramifications of this incident, but we already know of lost lives, port closure, and serious gnarling of road traffic. I have always been fascinated to read commercial captains' posts on ScubaBoard, so I'm wondering what are the possible scenarios where something like this could happen? Aren't large container vessels of this type equipped with multiple redundant navigation systems that prevent collision with known fixed obstacles? Can these even be overridden manually? There's a good summary of the accident here: Baltimore Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse: What we know about ship and bridge . The article seems to suggest the vessel left port, lost power, and drifted into the bridge support structures. Does this seem like a feasible scenario? I'm looking forward to hearing from people who actually know something about how large shipping vessels operate.

 

[rongoodman]

The reporting so far makes it sound like the ship lost power and thus its steering, so not a navigation issue.

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

As a long time Baltimorean, we woke up to some tragic news this morning. The Francis Scott Key bridge, which spans the only way in and out of the Port of Baltimore was struck by a container ship and collapsed. It will take awhile to sort out the ramifications of this incident, . . .

I expect this is going to have huge economic impact to the US for several months. There's a potential impact to the elections this fall. Fall is not what consumer prices are going to do.

Major arterial interstate highway through heavily congested area closed, major deep water port closed. Any ship in port hostage for a while. Rerouting cargoes (landed, en route, scheduled or planned) will be a major logistical PITA.

 

[Marie13]

I’m a customs broker. The freight forwarder I work for has a container on the Dali, loaded in Norfolk. I have multiple containers on ships due into Baltimore the next few days. Some are reefers of food items that have already been customs cleared. MSC has already declared force majeure. The containers will discharge in either New York or Norfolk. The importers will be on the hook for the trucking costs to the Baltimore area. Waiting for MSC to determine where the diverted containers will discharge before I contact CBP and FDA for guidance. You just can’t change the port of entry without major hassle.

Our major customer into Baltimore was on the phone to my company’s owner at 6 am screaming about their freight.

 

[also_anon_dc]

There's a potential impact to the elections this fall.

Interesting perspective. I had not thought of this.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

Our major customer into Baltimore was on the phone to my company’s owner at 6 am screaming about their freight.

What would screaming do?

Crazy, I travel the bridge pretty frequently. 24 miles from my house. Just on it 2 weeks ago returning from diving Annapolis. Thank goodness they were able to shut traffic down, kudos to the ship for the mayday.

Gareth Locks page had a post about it on Facebook, I hope at some point we get the perspective of the divers involved. Sounds like there's quite a few on site from a number of agencies.

Sorry @bmorescuba, not trying to hijack your thread. Tagging along.

 

[Marie13]

What would screaming do?

Crazy, I travel the bridge pretty frequently. 24 miles from my house. Just on it 2 weeks ago returning from diving Annapolis. Thank goodness they were able to shut traffic down, kudos to the ship for the mayday.

Gareth Locks page had a post about it on Facebook, I hope at some point we get the perspective of the divers involved. Sounds like there's quite a few on site from a number of agencies.

Sorry @bmorescuba, not trying to hijack your thread. Tagging along.

People often don’t give a flying **** what surrounds an accident like this. All they care about is their freight. I had people during Katrina who didn’t care about the dead people, just when NOLA could accept ships.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

On a US Navy ship when we were at "Sea Detail" which is when we were transiting restricted water in terms of depth, width of the channel, traffic etc we stationed an officer and two sailors in the After-Helm station. The rudder could be controlled there and we used sound-powered phones to get rudder commands from the bridge. We did this in the event that the bridge lost control of the rudder.

The station was deep in the bowels of the ship and way far aft, just above the rudder.
It was a shi**y place to be. Hot, humid, dark and dank.

 

[lexvil]

On a US Navy ship when we were at "Sea Detail" which is when we were transiting restricted water in terms of depth, width of the channel, traffic etc we stationed an officer and two sailors in the After-Helm station. The rudder could be controlled there and we used sound-powered phones to get rudder commands from the bridge. We did this in the event that the bridge lost control of the rudder.

The station was deep in the bowels of the ship and way far aft, just above the rudder.
It was a shi**y place to be. Hot, humid, dark and dank.

A Navy ship of this size would have a crew of hundreds, this container ship has 22, I read there were two pilots aboard, it’s probably in the category of “stuff happens” resolution for the future? Tugs until it’s clear of such structures?? $$ but cheaper the the cost of a bridge and the lost lives.

 

[greeniguana]

They put massive piling protectors at the Sunshine Skyway bridge after the 1980 collision.