The original post talked about turning them off under the Key Bridge, not the whole way to Norfolk. And yes, I was talking about the refrigerated containers, not the beer fridge in the galley.
1 Like
He said “critical passage periods” which I suppose is subjective, but it’s hard to say any part is of “pilotage waters” not critical where there’s a chance to run aground, into a bridge, a pier, or other ships at close quarters.
I wish we had beer fridges in the galley 
1 Like
I assume now every ship going under a major bridge in the US will need to have a tugboat attached to the bow.
I like the system in Israeli ports (at least 20 years ago it was) that the port fees include tugboats, so the ship master/owner do not try to save on tugboats.
3 Likes
Of course we can all hope that the publicity results in meaningful change, but what makes this one so different? The insurance payout? In terms of loss of life this is far from the worst bridge allision in US history.
2 Likes
Some things that are different about this bridge incident:
50 miles from the US Capitol in an election year
First, major bridge incident of Post-Panamax vessel in the US.
Major disruption to infrastructure and heavy traffic for several years.
$$$ Billions to replace the bridge
$$$ Hundreds of Billions in economic impact and damage claims.
20 years of damage claims litigation
This is probably a bigger economic impact and damages case than the EXXON VALDEZ oil spill.
$$$ Trillions will be spent upgrading or replacing thousands of bridges.
Hundreds of big new escort tugs will be built in the USA and used for all ships above a certain size transiting bridges and other critical infrastructure.
8 Likes
Yes, a long run down to CBJ.
1 Like
I take it you are not from around Baltimore?
I cannot overstate how huge a deal this is, it would have had 9-11 level casualties if it had happened at 0700 local instead of 0130. The only thing worse they could have done was knock over one of the Bay Bridges or sail up the Potomac and knock the Woodrow Wilson bridge over.
This will be snarling traffic for years to come, besides for trapping boats and ships in Baltimore trying to get out or out trying to get in. There will be follow-on impacts to numerous industries having their supply chains screwed up.
The psychological impact is not to be underestimated either. Prior to 9-11, who would have thought we would have major buildings knocked over by airplanes? Now 23 years later I am still doing ridiculous and mostly useless bs to fly past Washington DC.
1 Like
Bad first impressions.
The other option is to stop building ships that push port infrastructures past their limits.
5 Likes
Snarling road traffic for years. The channel is going to start getting cleared ASAP. I could have been clearer.
Did ships have tailshaft generators at one time? Can that still be done? Is that not a low-speed thing?
Still wouldn’t help if bad fuel takes every engine out though.
You can find Radio calls and the Bridge dispatcher’s and other radio traffic is starting to leak out on You Tube
1 Like
A USCG 2692 should have been filed if the ship was blacking out all day in port… If it was USCG would give a waiver or refer to Class.
It would be interesting to know if a USCG 2692 was sent to the USCG or if Class was informed.
We have already spent far too much money , mostly dredging, on too many competing ports to handle these ultra large ships. We only need a handful of load center ports on each coast that can handle these ultra large ships.
The financial case for these ultra large ships is lower operating costs, less crew and less fuel per container carried. The ship operating cost per container is already tiny.
I can see why shipowners want to make more money. Saving $5 per container on a 20,000 container ship is another $100,000 the owner can put in his pocket on every voyage.
But why should US taxpayers be funding billionaire foreign shipowners with $$$ Trillions of infrastructure costs.
Then there is the concern about having too many eggs in one basket. Do we want all of our necessary cargos concentrated in a handful of huge foreign (particularly Chinese) built and owned ships?
Wouldn’t we be a lot safer and more secure at lower risk and overall cost to American society, if our cargo needs were served by a much greater number of 5000 container ships?
4 Likes
Were they blowing 5 short on the whistle and were the guys on the bridge trained to recognize that signal? Seemed like they maybe could have had time to jump in a car and floor it.
After the first blackout recovery they had 30+ more seconds of power then blacked out again. Sounds like about the amount of main generator time you’d get out of a full skid & fuel header with no electric feed pumps replenishing it. Did maybe someone have something lined up onto a flushing pump as a backup and forgot to restart it? Could be 50 things though, It’s all speculation.
Maybe not the most of a lot of things and a horrifying ‘could have been’ if at rush hour but arguably the best filmed catastrophe of its type of this magnitude in history.
How long till vessel traffic resumes? 3-4 weeks? Will they stabilize the ship and work it while letting limited traffic through or get the ship out of there first?
Assuming the report is correct …
They have five days to file the 2692 but should have made a phone call to USCG prior to departure.
46 CFR 4.05-10
(a) The owner, agent, master, operator, or person in charge must, within 5 days, file a written report of any marine casualty required to be reported under [§ 4.05–1]. This written report is in addition to the immediate notice required by [§ 4.05–1].
We are also assuming they didn’t but it’s also possible they did but either intentionally downplayed it or just didn’t explain it well so the USCG didn’t grasp the full scope.
They should have notified Flag and Class prior to departure also, but depending on the specifics of the issue they may have thought it was taken care of and so didn’t feel the need to tell them immediately.
I am VERY curious on the specifics and why they felt it would not be a continuing issue. I am even MORE curious if they told the pilot about it. Again, if the report is correct. Pilots will typically not mess around and call the CG in a heartbeat if they are not comfortable with the mechanical situation on board.
2 Likes
Anything from the marine radio side of things? I have heard MTA and BFD recordings.
Unless some of the bridge repair crew happen to have their own boats, the odds of them knowing what 5 whistle blasts mean are about zero.
If they did know what it meant, they would probably run to the rail and look down to see who was going to crash into who. Prior to Tuesday that is probably what I would have done had I been up there, “bridges getting knocked over” just isn’t something anyone seems to have thought about until now.
3 Likes
I agree that ships have gotten too big, I understand owners wanting to earn as much as possible but I think we have hit a size limit.
When I first started on the water I remember those black hulled Sealand ships, like Sealand Champion, Charger, etc were massive. Now they would be tiny.
4 Likes
The USCG Rescue21 system will have the VHF comms recorded. I have no idea if or when they will be public. Broadcastify does not have a marine feed near Baltimore.
1 Like