Long before Key Bridge collapse, Baltimore mariners warned of 'ship strikes'
Source: Washington Post
WP EXCLUSIVE
Long before Key Bridge collapse, Baltimore mariners warned of ship strikes
Members of a Baltimore harbor safety committee repeatedly raised the possibility that an out-of-control vessel could imperil the bridge, records show
By Steve Thompson and Ian Duncan
Updated May 23, 2024 at 10:45 a.m. EDT | Published May 23, 2024 at 8:02 a.m. EDT
The remains of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, 2024, in Baltimore. Six construction workers were killed and Baltimores port was crippled when the 985-foot-long cargo ship Dali hit the bridge, bringing it down in seconds. (Michael A. McCoy for The Washington Post)
The warnings came, sometimes in eerily specific terms, years before a giant cargo ship struck Baltimores Francis Scott Key Bridge: A ship could lose power in close vicinity to a bridge, an out-of-control vessel could cause a bridge collapse, and the Key Bridge was not designed to withstand collisions from large vessels.
After the strike caused the bridges collapse in March, horrified officials described the catastrophe as one that couldnt have been anticipated. But a maritime safety committee, including experts from key government agencies, repeatedly raised the possibility of such a disaster over the past two decades, according to previously unreported records obtained by The Washington Post. For nearly 10 of those years, as ever-larger cargo ships visited Baltimores port, the committee included Recommendations for bridge protection from ship strikes on a list of its action items. In 2016, that action item stopped appearing in meeting minutes without explanation.
The group, known as the Baltimore Harbor Safety and Coordination Committee, discussed the Key and Chesapeake Bay bridges, among others. Maryland pilots specialists who board large vessels and then guide them safely in and out of port in particular sounded alarm about local bridges needing more protection from errant ships, the records show.
{snip}
Alice Crites contributed to this report.
By Steve Thompson
Steve Thompson writes about government and politics in Maryland, D.C. and Virginia. Before joining The Washington Post in 2018, he was an investigative reporter for the Dallas Morning News. He started in journalism as a police reporter at the St. Petersburg Times. Twitter
By Ian Duncan
Ian Duncan is a reporter covering federal transportation agencies and the politics of transportation. He previously worked at the Baltimore Sun for seven years, covering city hall, the military and criminal justice. He was part of the Sun's team covering Freddie Gray's death in 2015 and then-Mayor Catherine Pugh's Healthy Holly books scandal. Twitter
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2024/05/23/key-bridge-warnings-ship-strikes/
msongs
(69,473 posts)Hermit-The-Prog
(36,148 posts)FakeNoose
(34,800 posts)Recommended reading
LiberalFighter
(53,161 posts)And probably amount of tonnage too.
Old Crank
(4,291 posts)Panama had to widden the canal system to hold bgger ships. Panamax is a standard, adn ships which don't travel through the canal can be much larger.
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.aapa-ports.org/files/Panamax%20vs%20Post-Panamax%20comparison%20article.pdf
It is more efficient to operate a larger ship. The added cargo weight doesn't affect the efficiency of the ship that much, almost like trains. You can use the same numbers of crew on a ship that is twice as large. Unloading one large ship is faster than two smaller ships.
Now there are docking issues at ports and draft issues for channels many of these will limit ship size.
lapfog_1
(29,822 posts)summer_in_TX
(3,056 posts)Days after a massive cargo ship collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Larry Hogan called for the federal government to foot the bill for the bridges reconstruction. Hogans demand follows his efforts as Marylands governor to attract such outsized cargo vessels to Baltimores port in the first place despite safety warnings from an insurance giant and transportation experts.
Regardless of those concerns, Hogans gubernatorial administration pledged that bringing ever-larger cargo ships to Baltimore would strengthen the economy and even improve safety.
Old Crank
(4,291 posts)Nothing changes unless it is a forced change. Just like regulations. Written in blood.
3Hotdogs
(13,151 posts)What changes in bridge design can lessen the chance of a repeat of such a disaster?
maxrandb
(15,750 posts)Somebody get Elaine Chao on the phone.
"For nearly 10 of those years, as ever-larger cargo ships visited Baltimores port, the committee included Recommendations for bridge protection from ship strikes on a list of its action items. In 2016, that action item stopped appearing in meeting minutes without explanation.
I believe that this, and other such collisions, could be prevented by requiring additional tugs alongside until ships clear major infrastructure.