Naval Amphibious Base Coronado and Naval Base San Diego also have to transit under the Coronado Bridge. It’s just the big deck aircraft carriers which are based in such a way they do not have to transit under a bridge. North Island, Bremerton, Norfolk, and Yokosuka all have carriers and none have to transit under a bridge to get to sea.
I would think in any such “surprise attack” scenario there are more than ample plans already drafted to deal with the consequences of a downed bridge. Its not like the Navy is not aware of the fact there are bridges in the way of their facilities that could be dropped.
In our world, because money matters most, putting into place protective measures to prevent such a catastrophe as this don’t come until after the loss occurs. Only now will regulations be put into place to ensure a ship can be kept under control at every minute of a transit under a highway bridge. What makes us so fortunate here is that this obvious lesson learned did not come at a vastly higher cost in human lives.
This incident is tragic.
There are things affecting the industry that are not mentioned.
Maersk is continuously monitoring fuel consumption. Constant warnings and messages are sent about fuel consumption. I always have enough reserve generating capacity while maneuvering to allow for loss of a generator.
This is not acceptable to Maersk. They want fuel efficiency. As CE I go with safety. It is my licence.
There is a lot of pressure to go with fuel efficiency over safety and I am sure there engineers going along with unsafe practices to satisfy the company.
They have also pushed to reduce maning in the ER during maneuvering. When something goes wrong you need available personal.This is to reduce STCW Rest HR violations. They know their scheduling is the problem and put scheduling above safety.
Once again they are more concerned about a red mark than safety. They tried to have the CE sleeping while maneuvering for rest hours. This was reversed after opposition and made optional but I am sure US flag ships are doing it due to pressure from the company and captains.
Another issue is qualified personal and DEI. These days unqualified crew will bring a complaint to the USCG or the company for being corrected on maintenance or job performance issues. Officers are running scared and personal know they can anonymously cause problems for supervisors, putting their careers in jeopardy. It is a bad time to be Captain or Chief Engineer. (Good luck!)
Could any of these issues have contributed to the accident?
Who knows. We do our best but sometimes shit happens.
Adventures in Engineering are not always fun. The engineers onboard had and are having a bad day.
The alarm logs will tell the story. The USCG should already know what happened. It will take a year to get their investigation report.
A faster preliminary report may help other incidents from occurring. That is just not how they work.
The loss of life is terrible. Condolences to their families.
That was my thought as well, I’ve driven over that bridge a hundred times and passed under it quite a bit but never really thought about the cribbing around the supports. Ive had to spend the better part of the day doing a detailed company report on any such potential risk bridges in our AOO and luckily can say those that are mid-stream anchored all have far better protections in place than this bridge. And most of those are in areas where the vessels are much less DWT and operating at lower speeds.
How this was ever overlooked will be a red hot question in the coming days/months/years, though I doubt heads will roll for it. They most certainly should. Baltimore is a major economic port but also a staging area for the USN and MARAD/MSC ships. By my count, there are 2 FSS ships, 1 or maybe as many as three AKRs and the entirety of ships at the USCG yard at Curtis Bay marooned by this event. The FSS ships alone are a major loss to US overseas response ability. Thats 1/3 of the entire FSS fleet sidelined alone.
This was probably the most important part of anything you just said.
The most important part was " shit happens".
Anyone that has played Texas Chicken in the Houston Ship Channel knows this, or that has any time at sea.
It looks like the EDG came on and then went dark again. That is curious.
RumRunner,
It is refreshing that you have been tasked with this and hopefully the initiative will extend to other Ports.
The financial cost of this allision will be eye watering. The lawyers are already saying that the court cases will be locked up for the next 10 years. You cannot put a cost on the terrible loss of life.
You could buy an inordinate number of tugs and employ many tug crews, without loss of life, with the overall cost of this incident.
A wonderful display of indirect towage.
Maybe the VDR will provide a record of VHF transmissions. Looking at the size of the crew there is a problem In trying to balance rest hours with shipboard tasks. The Dali was alongside for two days and I would expect that the time would have been fully used for maintenance.
To be realistic, any major problems in the ER would require the C/Eng , A/E and Electrician to be in attendance, 3 out of 5 licensed engineers.
On the deck side the 3rd mate who had been on duty from 18:00 and the 2nd mate on duty from 23:59 would be up . The chief mate watch on, stop on, with cargo right up to departure, on the bridge waiting for the 2nd mate so he could get his head down.
When I sailed with Indian crew there were three quartermasters known as Seacunnies (sp) who were senior AB’s and were always helmsmen in pilotage waters.
It looked a long way from Newcastle, NSW.
thanks - looks game changing. Not sure you saw my take above. But it looks like it would be much better at changing you heading - than changing your track - how does advance compare with turning with the rudder ??
That it is Michael. Nevertheless, a good display.
texastanker,
The advance is actually reduced because of the square drag on the indirect tug so the effect is twofold…….it reduces speed and induces significant ROT in both directions. As you can see in the video, response times are short. At the end of the day, the tug can also lay directly astern and reduce headway if required.
thanks - so in addition to the bollard pull the tractor itself is acting like a rudder with a really long lever arm ?? Do I have that right ?
I wonder how things will go next concerning reopening the channel? Supposedly A company has already been given a contract to clear the bridge.
Will it be a careful meticulous removal with full documentation or will it be “get the channel reopened asap” and don’t watch what we are doing because you might not like it?
Correct……….a huge rudder. Spectra line is normally used in this application and the forces imparted in indirect towage can be significant.
That one. Luckily it’s not in California.
From CNN:
Dali cargo ship suffered “severe electrical problem” while docked for 2 days before crash, port worker says
From CNN’s Eve Brennan in London
The Dali cargo ship was docked in Baltimore days prior to the crash and was facing a “severe electrical problem,” a port worker told CNN’s UK affiliate, ITN.
Julie Mitchell, co-administrator of Container Royalty, a company that keeps track of the tonnage on container ships that comes into Baltimore, said the ship was in the port for two days.
“And those two days, they were having serious power outages… they had a severe electrical problem,” Mitchell said. “It was total power failure, loss of engine power, everything.”
She said refrigerated boxes kept tripping breakers, while mechanics had generators running while they were trying to fix the ship. CNN is unable to independently verify the information.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said Tuesday that the crew of the ship notified officials that it had lost power prior to the crash.
Mitchell said these types of power problems are “not really that common at all,” calling Tuesday’s incident “very rare.”
“They shouldn’t have let the ship leave port until they got it on under control,” she said, adding that she did not know whether the issue was fixed before the ship set sail.
CNN has reached out to the operator of the ship, Synergy Group, for comment.