The ship Dali left the port of Baltimore, Maryland, at around 1 o’clock on Tuesday night. A local pilot diverted the container ship to open waters after spending two days in port to prepare for the next ship to Sri Lanka.
The 948-foot-long ship approached the Francis Scott Bridge and its four-lane I-695 over the Patapsco River. Early morning traffic was relatively light as construction crews repaired potholes on the main highway that has served the area since 1977.
American The Wall Street Journal looked at the bridge’s inspection records in 2021. According to him, the bridge was in good condition. The construction was mainly cosmetic and the workers were engaged in routine work. Then the Dali lights went off, on and off again.
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It wasn’t long before that the ship issued a May Day call and officers raced to prevent additional traffic from crossing the bridge. Dali, after losing propulsion and power, crashed into a bridge pillar shortly before 1:30 p.m. In less than a minute, most of the bridge structure disappeared into the Patapsco River.
The sound of the fall felt like an explosion to nearby residents. Others thought it was an earthquake, but when shocked locals surveyed the site, now devoid of the historic bridge, officials rushed to rescue stranded construction workers and motorcyclists. Start trying.
Everyone was asking the question, how could this happen?
Kevin Callanan, professor of maritime transport at Cal Maritime, told The Independent: ‘It was a time and place: anything that could go wrong did go wrong and unfortunately the place was close to the bridge. As for engine failure and such, it’s rare and even more unusual to happen in a port area.’
According to experts such Events Despite its rarity, both bridge engineering and shipping can play a role in this. Construction on the bridge began in 1972 and continued after the 1977 opening, but the size of container ships has changed particularly dramatically in the following decades.
Jerome Hajar, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northeastern University, called the incident “a true tragedy,” saying the accident created an imbalance between the “volume of the load” on the bridge and the “expected load at the time of the bridge’s design.” May be due to
They Northeastern Global News stated that the bridge pier would probably have been ‘designed to withstand some degree of sideways or lateral load of this kind and therefore I would also assume that this load would exceed the normal design load. was significantly higher.’
Experts say that such old bridges may not have enough pier protection cells to act as buffers, essentially preventing any collision forces from directly impacting the supporting structures, which could lead to collapse. Not designed to withstand tons of weight.
Atrud Azizinamani, a professor of civil engineering at Florida International University, told The Independent that “regardless of what type of bridge you have, if a cargo ship hits a single pier and if the bridge is multi-deck, if If even one of them breaks, the bridge is going to collapse.’
Azizinamani, who is also the director of FIU’s Accelerated Bridge Construction University Transportation Center, says, ‘When we design a bridge, there is a very specific requirement that you protect the bridge pier against ship collisions. So you have to remember that the impact force of a freighter can be in the millions of pounds, so there are very specific requirements that you have protective cells or you build some big structures around the bridge so that the ship bridges. Don’t hit the support but hit these protective cells or large structures.’
This March 26, 2024 photo shows the structure of the Francis Scott Bridge in Baltimore, U.S., where a container ship collided with a pier and collapsed (AFP/Paz Pizarro)
Azizinamani says: ‘From what I’ve seen, it looks like the protective cells that were around the supports were very thin. It seems that these were not in accordance with the existing codes. But it is too early to say.’
FHWA said in a statement to The Independent that multiple agencies are investigating Tuesday, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Federal Highway Administrator Shaylan Bhatt and the NTSB, who have offered federal cooperation and assistance. .
Azizinamani says the NTSB report ‘may signal some policy changes that may require re-examining the security structure you have in place, making sure it meets current needs. And if you don’t have it, go ahead and create it.
‘Many of these bridges were built many years ago before the current standards came into force. They can speed up the process.’
Although Azizinamani and his engineering group have examined the wreck from a structural perspective, the maritime community has focused on the container ship.
Cal Maritime’s Callanon told The Independent: ‘Being a professional mariner, my mind immediately went this morning to what happened on board? How can we build bridges better instead? Because one of our rules is don’t hit things with your ship – a very simple rule.’
This March 26, 2024 satellite image released by Maxer Technologies shows the Francis Scott Bridge in Baltimore after a Singaporean-flagged cargo ship capsized (Handout / Satellite Image ©2024 Maxer Technologies / AF p)
He said: ‘My mind immediately went to ‘OK, what happened on the plane? I would like details of the engine failure, were there any deficiencies in engineering equipment that were noted prior to the aircraft’s departure? What happened once he started the journey?’
Tuesday’s incident was not Dali’s first confrontation. Vessel Finder Dali had previously collided with a platform in July 2016 while leaving the port of Antwerp in Belgium. This caused considerable damage to her structure and she was moored for repairs before returning to duty.
The ship was chartered by shipping giant Maersk, carrying Maersk’s cargo and operated by Synergy Marine Group.
“We are deeply saddened by what happened in Baltimore and our sympathies go out to all those affected,” Maersk said in a statement.
Callanon noted that the ship’s crew made a Mayday call. He added that the power outage was clearly ‘not something they expected.’ Maryland’s governor highlighted the importance of the emergency call and subsequent efforts by authorities to prevent more people from crossing the bridge.
Governor Wes Moore said at a news conference Tuesday morning: ‘These guys are heroes. They saved lives last night.’
Two construction workers survived while authorities continued to search for other victims in the water on Tuesday. It is not clear how many vehicles were on the bridge at the time of the collapse.
Callanan said there has been a significant and impressive change in the shipping safety culture in recent years and he is awaiting the NTSB report to find out what happened. He says that despite the tragic loss of life, such a disaster “leads to law enforcement and the procedural operations of these ships.” It makes us all think and say: ‘Okay, okay, it happened, we know it, what can we do to avoid it?
‘It’s a culture we’ve had for years in the maritime industry, in aviation too: learn from mistakes. It is very unfortunate that this has happened, but as far as future safety enhancements are concerned, it will not be in vain.’
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2024-10-07 03:35:21
