Early Tuesday, the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore ended up collapsing after a massive cargo ship collided with it.
Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapses
The cargo ship, named Dali, was moving at just nine miles per hour when it hit the key bridge at 1:28 ET, when some contractors were working on the bridge. However, the massive weight of the boat implied that its momentum was nearly unstoppable.
A pair of bridge piers was taken down by the ship. This meant that the roadway was left fully unsupported. Because of this, the bridge appeared to instantly crumble.
The missing people involved in the accident are thought to be the construction crew who were working on the bridge's potholes.
Role of Ship Pilots
In a recent interview, Captain Allan Post, an officer of a veteran ship, shares about the roles played by ship pilots in bringing the massive vessel in and out of a harbor. These ship pilots are local experts that the federal or state government has certified to offer advice to the vessel's master regarding the control of the vessel.
These pilots are just advisers to the ship's captain, who serves as the master of the journey. The captain is still fully responsible for the vessel's safe navigation.
The pilot typically meets the ship in the sea, dock, or port. They then go up to the bridge and usually have some exchange of greetings. They also set the gear up and, given today's technology, plug into the electronic chart data system of the ship. They then have the pilot exchange with the captain.
Once this is finished, the pilot begins to instruct the captain or officer of watch regarding where they must be to dock or undock the ship. The pilot can also say that he will not do it and that the operations can be shut down if conditions are not safe or if the vessel is not in a good state of safe transit. This happens quite often, especially when there is fog.
According to a Captain Klaus Luhta, former merchant marine captain, during these incidents, one can typically look at the error of humans. At an initial look, it appears like a mechanical error.
It has been confirmed by the Maryland governor's office that the ship lost power and issued a warning before eventually colliding with the bridge.
Luhta explains that cargo ships are typically trained to handle incidents like this. The former captain argues that it should be taken as an all-hands-on-deck scenario. He notes that the ship pilots are the vessel operators with highest training in the world and in Baltimore Port, particularly. Hence, they are trained to handle these events.
The former captain explains that based on reports, it sounds like these pilots saved some lives by not allowing vehicles to pass through the bridge, which is a commendable feat.
Possible Structural Flaw
Engineers have also blamed the collapse to a structural design flaw that thousands of US bridges also have. According to several exports, the bridge did not have vital protection systems that could have prevented the cargo ship from hitting the support of the bridge.
As the bridge was constructed in 1977, anti-collision devices, such as protection cells and fenders, were not included as they were only introduced in the 1980s.
According to experts, fender installation would cost at least $3 million. However, the bridge collapse is equivalent to a daily loss of $15 million in economic activity and $1.5 million in local and state taxes. Not to mention, there are six men who are presumed to be dead due to the grave disaster.
Sherif El-Tawil, who is a processor of civil and environmental engineering from the University of Michigan, says that a protection system is necessary.
Along with other engineers, El-Tawil notes that the Baltimore Bridge apparently lacked important structures to protect it against the attack. These include piled seafloor, concrete structures to divert the ship, and piers within the water. Bilal Ayyub, the former chair of the Infrastructure Resilience Division of the American Society of Civil Engineers, says that such features can be constructed in waterways to divert a boat from hitting key bridge structures.
However, even with protective structures in place, whether a bridge is safe from a boat collision depends on the boat's size. According to experts, a boat that is massive enough, such as the cargo ships of today, could take out other bridges, like the Golden Gate Bridge or the Brooklyn Bridge.
He also notes that not every protection system could stop a ship like Dali that weighs over 100,000 tons. There are also times when accidents take place due to human error or, in this case, power failure.
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