Maryland: Ship hits Francis Scott Key Bridge causing it to collapse

[Pooky 3,780]

I have been on a container ship, where the steering failed leaving port. We were only 16,000 tons, but it took almost half a mile to bring the ship to a stop with the engines full astern, if my memory serves. We missed Hythe Pier oil jetty in Southampton by less than 10 yards. We also had a pilot on board and he was white as a sheet when he disembarked. Nothing he could do about it.

 

This ship displaces 100,000 tons and at 8 knots, you’re looking at miles to stop it. With a total power loss, you’ve lost the ability to reverse the propellers. That ship was not stopping anytime soon. 
 

That they were able to get off a mayday and the authorities managed to stop traffic on the bridge saved countless lives. This could have been a lot worse.

Edited March 27 by Pooky

[yuna628 9,671]

Local articles this morning stated they were offered a tug and declined, and that tugs had been used for the ship previously. Some are saying that tugs should be used in the future.

 

https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/transportation/baltimore-bridge-dali-tugboat-rules-E4DIYO7MUVDOFHR7Y3YJOGOY3A/

 

Quote

Tugboats are usually mandated by ports to stay with cargo vessels for a specific period of time, according to Spillane. Capt. Joseph Ahlstrom, a member of the Board of Commissioners of Pilots of the State of New York, said there may be a push for more tugboat escorts in the industry following the crash.

“Ship owners don’t like tug escorts because you need to pay for them,” said Ahlstrom, who also teaches safety management classes at SUNY Maritime. “But passing under a bridge like this, it may be necessary.”

Kurt Gray, a former tugboat captain, said that many ships are escorted by at least two tugboats running within 30 to 40 feet on either side of the ship as it maneuvered under the Key Bridge. “If the pilot released the assist tugs, as in he didn’t need them anymore, then it seems normal that they peeled off. It is not uncommon. This would be documented in the captain’s log of the ship as well as the captain’s log on the tugs.”

 

The men died on the bridge were all workers on their meal break. It seems the men who survived were outside of their vehicles, and those who did not were inside. It's quite a remarkable drop.

Edited March 27 by yuna628

[PGA 239]

Too bad. All they needed was this guy....

[Dashinka 24,479]

2 hours ago, yuna628 said:

Local articles this morning stated they were offered a tug and declined, and that tugs had been used for the ship previously. Some are saying that tugs should be used in the future.

 

https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/transportation/baltimore-bridge-dali-tugboat-rules-E4DIYO7MUVDOFHR7Y3YJOGOY3A/

 

 

The men died on the bridge were all workers on their meal break. It seems the men who survived were outside of their vehicles, and those who did not were inside. It's quite a remarkable drop.

So a Chesapeake Bay Pilot was on board and released the tugs?

[Boiler 45,445]

10 minutes ago, Dashinka said:

So a Chesapeake Bay Pilot was on board and released the tugs?

The coverage I saw said there were 2 Pilots.

[Dashinka 24,479]

5 minutes ago, Boiler said:

The coverage I saw said there were 2 Pilots.

Yes, probably, and both would be locals who know the river and bay quite well.  To be honest, this does look like a tragic accident with a pile up of failure modes leading to the bridge being hit.  Why weren't tugs used out past the bridge?  Could tugs have stopped the ship when it started drifting?  Where was the ship collision protection around the bridge piers?  In the end, we have a number of construction workers who appear to have lost their lives because.

 

Prayers to their families.

[yuna628 9,671]

16 minutes ago, Dashinka said:

Yes, probably, and both would be locals who know the river and bay quite well.  To be honest, this does look like a tragic accident with a pile up of failure modes leading to the bridge being hit.  Why weren't tugs used out past the bridge?  Could tugs have stopped the ship when it started drifting?  Where was the ship collision protection around the bridge piers?  In the end, we have a number of construction workers who appear to have lost their lives because.

 

Prayers to their families.

Apparently, in a few states it's not mandatory for a tug to be used out past bridges, and some pilots don't want to use them because they cost money. There is an effort to change that. This bridge was built in the 1970s so piers were not used in this design. Back then, so they say, we were not hauling that kind of mega ship so it wasn't a concern. I saw some people pulling up old articles from back then that there were money/time issues. I do recall an old story my grandfather told me of a big ship in WWII that struck the Chesapeake City bridge (also a lovely bridge but in huge need of repair) and took it out back in 1942. They replaced it with the current bridge in 1949. That is one area which spans from Delaware's St. George's bridge up the canal to ours and you will routinely see tugs taking them past the bridges. I've seen some people say the piers may have helped but unlikely that it would have held up to that amount of force.

[Boiler 45,445]

Might be a good time to be in the Tug building business.

[Dashinka 24,479]

1 hour ago, yuna628 said:

Apparently, in a few states it's not mandatory for a tug to be used out past bridges, and some pilots don't want to use them because they cost money. There is an effort to change that. This bridge was built in the 1970s so piers were not used in this design. Back then, so they say, we were not hauling that kind of mega ship so it wasn't a concern. I saw some people pulling up old articles from back then that there were money/time issues. I do recall an old story my grandfather told me of a big ship in WWII that struck the Chesapeake City bridge (also a lovely bridge but in huge need of repair) and took it out back in 1942. They replaced it with the current bridge in 1949. That is one area which spans from Delaware's St. George's bridge up the canal to ours and you will routinely see tugs taking them past the bridges. I've seen some people say the piers may have helped but unlikely that it would have held up to that amount of force.

So the question is did the local pilots dismiss the tugs or the ship's captain.  I am not an expert sailor, but I thought when the ship was under control of local pilots they had full control within the waters they are paid to pilot.  Regardless, it is not known if the tugs could have really done anything in this situation.

Edited March 27 by Dashinka

[yuna628 9,671]

51 minutes ago, Dashinka said:

So the question is did the local pilots dismiss the tugs or the ship's captain.  I am not an expert sailor, but I thought when the ship was under control of local pilots they had full control within the waters they are paid to pilot.  Regardless, it is not known if the tugs could have really done anything in this situation.

 

Yeah I have no idea either. I read they were being tugged around 1am ish and dismissed shortly after at 1:09am. The accident happened around 1:30am ish but that was after they had veered off course. The recent press conference just said there are 4700 containers on board and 56 are hazardous.

 

Reminds me that in 2022 the Ever Forward got stuck in our bay due to pilot negligence. https://abcnews.go.com/US/cargo-ship-stuck-chesapeake-bay-freed-month/story?id=84133293 The local pilot was busy on his phone and the other pilot had left the bridge. Was a complete mess to get it unstuck, I can only imagine how long the cleanup for this disaster is going to take though..

[Boiler 45,445]

I have never seen tugs used when a ship is underway, I assumed the tugs were used at slow speeds? She seemed to be accelerating out of harbour.

 

Yesterday CNN said 2,000 and a quick glance showed more than that, the capacity I believe is 10,000. And looked fairly full.

[Pooky 3,780]

8 hours ago, Dashinka said:

So the question is did the local pilots dismiss the tugs or the ship's captain.  I am not an expert sailor, but I thought when the ship was under control of local pilots they had full control within the waters they are paid to pilot.  Regardless, it is not known if the tugs could have really done anything in this situation.

When a pilot is on board, they have full authority over the ship.

 

If the ship was being towed, the tugs would be controlling the direction and speed of the ship. In addition, must tugs are pretty powerful, far more so than the bow thrusters the ship would be using to assist in manoeuvring. The chances are good the impact with the bridge could have been avoided.

[yuna628 9,671]

Some info from last night:

 

Substance is leaking into river. There are 764 tons of hazardous material on board and some has also leaked.

Conditions considered hazardous.

Items washing onshore yesterday.

Two bodies of the men recovered yesterday, further bodies are likely crushed beneath the concrete which was smashed through several decks of the ship. One vehicle is dangling from the wreckage.

Legislature is considering bill that would pay port workers, but there are not many days left for our session.

Key Bridge was on a list of potential bridges that would catastrophically collapse if struck. There are similar concerns about the Chesapeake Bay Bridge (which many people are so scared of they won't drive over).

In Delaware last year such ship strike measures were taken to put 'dolphin cylinders' at the piers. It cost $93 million with a $22 million federal grant. 

Unlikely our state would ever afford that, and the cost would be even greater for our numerous bridges built in this way.

The previous governor left our transportation fund nearly drained which has led to discussions of how the new governor would replenish this fund - arguments about higher taxes and tolls have been ongoing.

 

[Pooky 3,780]

1 hour ago, yuna628 said:

Key Bridge was on a list of potential bridges that would catastrophically collapse if struck.

 

The Francis Scott Key Bridge was what is termed as a “Fracture Critical” bridge. In short, this means there is zero redundancy in the structure, so that if a component fails, its function can not be transferred to another component or system. Additionally, if a major system fails in one part of the structure, the remaining parts of the structure will also fail, leading to a total collapse, as happened here.

 

According to the DoT, there are over 18,000 fracture critical bridges in the U.S.

 

 

[millefleur 5,046]

12 hours ago, Pooky said:

The Francis Scott Key Bridge was what is termed as a “Fracture Critical” bridge. In short, this means there is zero redundancy in the structure, so that if a component fails, its function can not be transferred to another component or system.

Is this because it's too cost prohibitive to build more structurally resistant bridges?