The ship was involved in another allision back in 2016 stern swiping a qway wall. But that could have been them turning off the dock to soon. Its not a full video just a short clip
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The pilots would be more likely to use 11 or 12 or some other working channel and they could conceivably have recordings on those channels.
Maybe easier for US authorities to regulate how bridge pillars are protected and to mandate escort tug(s) for ships passing bridges in US waters, than to change the way ships are built, equipped and operated:
The last requires international agreement, through international organizations, like IMO, not unilateral regulations by one nation.
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As others have said, an 80 ton tractor tug tethered center lead after can do lot to steer and/or slow a ULCV.
Not only as part of normal maneuvering to or from a berth, but pilots also train specifically to use them to steer a ship with a jammed rudder or loss of propulsion.
And yes, at speeds below 5 knots, direct pull is typically used. At speeds above 5 knots, indirect must be used. Both are effective. When the tug has say 300 feet of line out, the lever arm for the 80 ton tug is now effectively ~ 1300 feet long for a 396 M ULCV moving ahead.
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a) fuel switchover during navigation in restricted waters during first 30 minutes from leaving berth - ECA 0.1 , no fuel change has to be done .
b) " engine crew going to sleep " switching all from " attended" to " unattended" ECR mode. - unattended mode only after pilot off and after BOSP , in this case way more outside .
In case of blackout , there is one steering pump which will work with emergency diesel generator , no need to press anything , it is in auto mode, rudder will be a lot slower but will move . Emergency diesel generator will start automatically as well . There are some tests to be done before entering US waters and before departure, which include this procedure as well , for steering .
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Last time I tied up in the inner harbor we took on the docking pilot just south of the bridge. When we got underway the bay pilot was now the docking pilot and he was relieved by another pilot for the southbound bay transit.
I asked the pilot wtf? He said everyone does everything now.
question - indirect towing came in long after I came ashore - but it seems to me the advance ( direction pivot point moves along the original track before starting to turn ) would be much greater than when turning with the rudder. I can see that it would be very effecive in changing your heading - but how effective in changing the actual direction of the pivot point ?
OK - that makes more sense. The only thing I can think of is “We need to be ready for the bridge to get knocked over” is something no one ever thought of.
Remember that most times a ship goes under there the bridge is full of traffic.
Indirect in normal maneuvering is mostly used to increase the rate of turn of the ship. Essentially, you can use it to get the ship swinging faster without coming ahead harder on the ships M/E. This is useful to keep the ships speed under control but get her rate of turn up so that you do make your turn. It’s done in combination with the ships M/E and rudder. It’s often used on ULCV’s which are big, heavy, often deep, and difficult to get swinging fast enough to make the turns into and out of some container terminals. Trying indirect alone with no ships rudder usage will certainly result in a big ole turn with a lot of advance! However, in situations where steering or propulsion is lost on the ship, indirect CAN help turn and steer the ship.
When reduction of advance is really desired, people will put a tug on the bow opposite of the direction of turn. Having that tug push half or full ahead during the turn doesn’t increase rate of turn much but certainly reduces the amount of advance during the turn. Conversely you can put that tug on the inside of bow of the turn on a headline and he can serve the same function but can also provide speed control by backing alongside on his line.
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thanks - big changes from my time with 1500 hp on the port bow !!
yea - that is kind of what i guessed - not 100 pct convinced even a tractor on the stern would have helped much in this particular case - think increasing the protection on the bridges is a better solution - but that well could be becuse I have zero clue what that would involve.
The Key Bridge support structures:
Francis Scott Key Bridge. Clearance at point of ship’s impact: About 185 feet
Sources: NOAA, balticshipping.com, Maryland Transportation Authority
Free article from WaPo:
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The economic impact of this incident will be felt immediately:
Source: Dali crew hailed as 'heroes' as details emerge of deadly Baltimore bridge smash - Splash247
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NTSB has released drone footage of the ship and bridge. Its going to be quite the undertaking to free the vessel from its current spot with the bridge, at least one of the support pillars and the road deck on the bow.
There also appears to be an absurdly small amount of dolphin cribbing around the supports for such a heavily trafficked waterway.
I noticed myself that the high wire line towers have much heavier protective concrete fendering than the bridge structure does.
Probably built more recently to a higher standard
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MPA Singapore as Flag State Authority will support the US Coast Guard in its investigations
Published 26 Mar 2024:
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The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) confirms the incident of a Singapore-registered vessel’s allision with the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, on 26 March 2024 at about 1:30pm (Singapore Time). The vessel, Dali, is a 95,000 GT container vessel operating with 22 crew onboard at the time of the incident.
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MPA is in contact with the US Coast Guard and the ship management company to provide the necessary assistance.
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As the flag state, MPA will provide full cooperation to the US Coast Guard in its investigations. MPA will also be investigating the incident.
Investigators from the Transport Safety Investigation Bureau and MPA are making their way to Baltimore, Maryland.
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The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has contacted the United States Coast Guard (USGC) Headquarters and the Office of Marine Safety, National Transportation Safety Board, and offered MPA’s assistance as the flag administration to support the investigations. -
Investigators from the Transport Safety Investigation Bureau and MPA are travelling to Baltimore, Maryland.
Published 27. March 2024:
Vessel Dali Passed Previous Foreign Port State Inspections
MPA continues to extend its support to the US Coast Guard and local authorities
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I served in the US Navy 1965-1993. Stationed mostly in Norfolk, Virginia from 1972 except for a few stints in schools, etc. On ships for 13 of those 21 years. Lived in Virginia Beach and Norfolk.
A few points:
- the voyage on the Elizabeth River from the Norfolk Naval Shipyard (in Portsmouth) to the Norfolk Naval Base (NOB) crosses two very costly tunnels, but no bridges to pass under.
- the voyage on the James River from Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock into Hampton Roads crosses the very costly tunnel section of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel (HRBT), but no bridges to pass under.
- the voyage on the Elizabeth River and Chesapeake Bay, outThimble Shoals Channel, crosses the tunnels of the HRBT and Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (CBBT), but no bridges to pass under.
- the voyage from the Little Creek Naval Base (now JEBLC) to sea crosses the CBBT only.
Note: the same voyage parameters of tunnels and no bridges apply to commercial vessels destined for Dominion Terminals, Norfolk Southern Lambert’s Point Docks, container piers at Virginia Port Authority or Portsmouth Marine Terminal, as well as locations on the east bank of the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River.
Want to hazard a guess why all these highway water crossings were made with much more costly tunnels than with bridges? Yes, the world’s largest naval base currently has only 75 ships, but had twice as many during my early years as a surface warfare officer.
It was always deemed that bridges were far too vulnerable to sabotage and would easily blockade naval vessels from getting to sea. Damage by ships may have been an additional consideration.
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And yet the Groton Sub base has 3 bridges that could be knocked into the river and keeping them from exiting.
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Hazmats can’t go through tunnels, that was one reason the Key bridge was a bridge 
I wasn’t implying that other naval installations were less important. Only that the major naval and commercial port area of Hampton Roads has never had bridges over the many waterways, and funding the much more costly tunnels has always been an issue for the Commonwealth of Virginia and the federal government.