Equasis yields the data from MOUs that are usually of dubious representativeness of the state of a ship, much less if there is only a deficiency. The follow-up inspections of the United States Coast Guard are not what they used to be. The voice recorders of the VOYAGE DATA RECORDER with the orders of the Pilots and Captain will be key to deciphering what happened. They assign responsibilities to MAERSK when on behalf of the shipowner Grace Ocean Singapore, the operator of the vessel Synergy Marine is solely responsible. The rigorous maintenance and supervision of the ship today is very much questioned by the scarcity and maelstrom of changes in the crews. Only a privileged few are exempt from operational failures. The safety of maritime operations and infrastructures are in the hands of people from the port or shore staff. This incident will end up like the Suez Canal, providing better tugboat services, widening shipping lanes, and reducing speed in narrow passages (8 knots passing under a bridge is too much, as well as being a critical mobility route). In short, the ones who are least to blame are the crew.
I say - get after SYNERGY GROUP and bankrupt them. Get after the MARSHAL ISLANDS registry in Reston, VA and bankrupt them for their practices.
WHY because their bottom line is - done cheaper , done faster, done cheaper, done done done cheaper.
SHIP MANAGERS are just that - not owners who care about ships but have turned every aspect of this business into a game while relegating responsibility of the SAFE SHIP to everyone else (the MASTER in particular) but to the real ENTITY - THE OWNER. It is your boat, your asset, take care of it. And I mean all SHIP MANANGERS, all of them. The only MANAGERS should be the ones working for the OWNER, not shielding them from RESPONSIBILITY.
The same with FOC REGISTRIES - you don’t have any skin in the game, you should not be allowed to make unscrupulous money. The FLAG is a farce these days.
THE IMO is a toothless entity to this end with wasteful money on unnecessary conferences and ridiculous issues like so many of the other agencies under the UN.
In the days gone by, all maneuvering was on Diesel… less particulate matter and all good.
Very few accidents if not any due to fuel. How so now … cheaper, cheaper cheaper, a race to the bottom.
PSC is a farce especially since those guys are nothing but paper pushers. It should be a direct (Like in the AUTO INDUSTRY), OWNER responsibility, not just the driver for an UNSAFE CAR. Just too many OWNERS looking for ways to run away from ownership but more than eager to bank the returns.
Can you name one guy from TOTE who went to jail for that boat being absolutely UNSAFE - UNSAFE in the words of the POLISH riding welders sent to fix it. Not a mention about the structural disgust on that ship but everything about the Dangerous Semi and Master’s decisions.
While we dissect and the tragedy is talked about ad nauseum, the foundation fractured race to the bottom will never change.
In the meantime, let the lawsuits and ambulance chasers show they care (about the $$$).
There have been in excess of 40 major bridge collapses globally since 1960 owing to ship/barge allision.
The key bridge was built in 1977…two years after the Tasman bridge disaster. Yet, we build a bridge with a single point of failure adjacent to a very busy shipping channel……with little or no protection. In the meantime……we cater to unassisted vessels with more than double the displacement of those being built in 1977.
Do you see an issue here?
Some may question the “expert” thing but for me all ships chief engineers and 2nd engineers are experts,who may have and rather should have an opinion regarding the technical side of this tragedy.
Expert Ships Engineer Reacts to Baltimore Bridge Crash (youtube.com)
a better view of Dali track fm berth to the bridge .
I am consulting with my friend the Chief Engineer on the vessel in question on the lube pump but I think the electric one was used when we were manoeuvring.
And yes- that I’m still vertical is a bloody miracle.
Channel 11 is used by the Maryland Pilot office and the Baltimore Maritime Exchange.
Channel 12 is used by Moran.
Since the docking pilots merged with the state association, the tugs do not transport docking pilots any more.
It is done by launch.
Anyway, I am not sure how many docking pilots are on the roster these days since the move to the hybrid one pilot does it all scheme.
Almost all of the docking pilots that came off the tugs are gone now.
It has come to light the ship never touched the southwest concrete barrier.
She went between that barrier, if it could be called that, and allided directly with the southern main bridge support.
A million to one shot.
That puff or cloud of smoke was the ship striking the bridge abutment straight on.
Can anybody here be so kind and explain what this Gentleman is talking about:
not enough automation, AI use, pilot talking to engine room, it’s really operated on old school VHF radio?? - Jeezz!!! first time hear sth like that.
Captain explains what happened during Baltimore Key Bridge collapse - YouTube
6:45
um you know, there’s, there’s these ships are very minimally manned.
6:49
You have an all foreign crew, they may or they’re required to speak English.
6:53
But how well they speak English is not always known and you have one local pilot.
6:58
So you have a captain like me who’s in the, you know,
7:01
an expert in the port of Baltimore and he’s managing everything.
7:05
He’s trying to talk to the engine room, trying to get tug boats,
7:07
trying to call may day with the Coast Guard.
7:10
And
7:10
it’s,
7:12
it’s a lot for a very minimally manned ship
7:17
and these ships don’t have very much automation.
7:20
So there’s been resistance towards using AI to help,
7:25
help the pilot and help the ship navigate.
7:28
Um, it’s really operated on old school VHF radio.
7:33
So unless someone,
7:34
unless that bridge is manned and it’s not a
7:36
drawbridge and someone on the bridge is monitoring that radio
7:40
and then can quickly put up the signs, you know, in under five minutes.
7:44
Um, it’s just not going to happen if it had been a drawbridge,
7:48
it’s possible they might have got it shut down,
7:51
but uh things were just happening too fast to shut down the bridge in this case.
7:57
That is uh Captain John Conrad. Captain Conrad.
7:59
Thank you so much for joining us for a few
8:02
minutes here and sharing your insight and knowledge with us.
It’s illegal and bad practice and thus highly unlikely but possible. I wouldn’t float that as my hypothesis but don’t rule it out completely.
Far more likely though also bad practice and if that happened the CE and possibly the Master will likely lose their license(s) and go to jail. Nothing we know points to this as the cause and until such time as we know I wouldn’t float that hypothesis either.
Thank You Capt. for your expert opinion.Very much appreciated.
Jesus.
So this was the track of the forward section….
It would appear from this screenshot that she has just slid up the northern side of the dolphin and taken out the main structure.
And right alongside the main support “fendering”…….
I’ve heard several times over the years that there is a bridge there vs a tunnel so that hazmat trucks can get around and bypass the city and it’s tunnels.
The most important and coherent part is that the bridge doesn’t have an operator and thus there’s no one to call to shut traffic down. I think the road crew working there was actually lucky because I think the police were on location because the road crew was there so were able to shut traffic down more quickly than otherwise.
Ausmariner:
I was in Melbourne on a chemical tanker in 1975 and vaguely remember a major
Bridge had collapsed, was that caused by a similar incident as in Baltimore?
Hi Norseman,
No. Different circumstances. The “Illawarra” was a 140m loaded bulk carrier transiting inward to her berth upriver from the Tasman Bridge under the command of a Pilot exempt Master. On his approach to the bridge, the Master realised that he was too fast and slightly off course and there was a reduction in engine power which reduced water flow over the rudder and consequently reduced steering response causing the allision. A terrible accident. It took 2.5 years before the bridge was repaired and reopened.
I’m not nearly photogenic enough. Putting me on the evening news will cause people to lose their dinner and children to have nightmares.
Yes. Keep tugs through the bridge.
I am afraid I cannot translate for you the bizarre and rather incoherent language the man is speaking.