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Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapses After Ship Strike

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    tempo_n_groovetempo_n_groove Posts: 39,066
    mickeyrat said:
    @mickeyrat thx for the article.  It appears people in the business have the same questions I do.

    When we went through the locks in seattle we were required to have tugs escort us in and out until we were clear of pretty much anything. Coming into port in other places were the same.  Tug escorts.  On the 120' catcher and tenders we didn't need one but for a 300' ship and larger, yes.  So think of a 900' ship.  That thing is 3 football fields long.

    I see this changing maritime rules for the better as so this doesn't happen again.

    no one standard. up to each port and as article stated , shippers seem to be driving that to keep costs down.

    it just makes no sense to have a bridge of that type, classified as a fracture critical(meaning any one part fails leading to complete failure),  with zero protection around support piers to not require tug suport.

    one argument is if one requires it it will drive traffic to one that doesnt. while I can see that , it lends itself then to federal requirement under coast guard rules or something like that.

    watching that first full briefing by ntsb  the day after, was both fascinating and alarming , hearing the depth of investigation and some of the stats.
    I know how they work, this is my opinion of it.  This could also lead to ships having a backup propulsion safety, kind of like how a plane has a backup for everything.

    This bridge was made way before the "supertanker" and "megaships" .  That being said, seeing the bridge has zero protection, i would have the tugs escort them in/out or put barriers around the bridge but we all know that infrastructure and safety go on the back burner if its not a common occurrence. 

    If a port is overpopulated because it's "cheaper" to go to, the waiting would hopefully divert the ship to another port?

    All good discussions to have.  When my buddys that work for the shipping industry come back home I'll ask them some questions since they are part of this every day now.  It'll be interesting to hear from them. One is a captain and the other an engineer.
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    tempo_n_groovetempo_n_groove Posts: 39,066
    mickeyrat said:
    gift article from last week about what is impacted for shipping



      See how the Key Bridge collapse will disrupt the supply of cars, coal and tofu
    By Rachel Lerman, Hannah Dormido, Jeanne Whalen, Luis Melgar and Laris Karklis
    March 27, 2024 at 8:15 ET
    The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on Tuesday cut off access to much of the city’s port — causing a suspension of vessel traffic that will disrupt a key trade lane and threaten to further tangle already-stressed supply chains.
    The Port of Baltimore was the 17th largest in the nation by total tons in 2021 and an important artery for the movement of autos, construction machinery and coal. It handled 52.3 million tons of foreign cargo worth nearly $81 billion in 2023, according to Maryland data, and creates more than 15,000 jobs.
    On Tuesday, the Port of Baltimore said that vessel traffic would be suspended in and out of the port until further notice, but trucks would still be processed in its terminals.
    “Baltimore’s not one of the biggest ports in the United States, but it’s a good moderate-sized port,” said Campbell University maritime historian Sal Mercogliano. It has five public and 12 private terminals to handle port traffic.
    “It does cars, it does bulk carriers, it does containers, it does passengers,” said Mercogliano. “So this is going to be a big impact.”
    Baltimore’s the top port in the nation for automobile shipments, having imported and exported more than 750,000 vehicles in 2022, according to the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, an industry group.

    continues....

    screenshots from within the article....


    So this article says two things that caught my attention.

    "Supply chain stresses" and "key trade lane"

    If prices were raised this port seems to be a "key" one so adding extra safety shouldn't matter for costs.

    Didn't we already uncover that the supply chain thing was all bullshit?  Are they still pushing that narrative or is the reporter lost?
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    mickeyratmickeyrat up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,886
    mickeyrat said:
    gift article from last week about what is impacted for shipping



      See how the Key Bridge collapse will disrupt the supply of cars, coal and tofu
    By Rachel Lerman, Hannah Dormido, Jeanne Whalen, Luis Melgar and Laris Karklis
    March 27, 2024 at 8:15 ET
    The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on Tuesday cut off access to much of the city’s port — causing a suspension of vessel traffic that will disrupt a key trade lane and threaten to further tangle already-stressed supply chains.
    The Port of Baltimore was the 17th largest in the nation by total tons in 2021 and an important artery for the movement of autos, construction machinery and coal. It handled 52.3 million tons of foreign cargo worth nearly $81 billion in 2023, according to Maryland data, and creates more than 15,000 jobs.
    On Tuesday, the Port of Baltimore said that vessel traffic would be suspended in and out of the port until further notice, but trucks would still be processed in its terminals.
    “Baltimore’s not one of the biggest ports in the United States, but it’s a good moderate-sized port,” said Campbell University maritime historian Sal Mercogliano. It has five public and 12 private terminals to handle port traffic.
    “It does cars, it does bulk carriers, it does containers, it does passengers,” said Mercogliano. “So this is going to be a big impact.”
    Baltimore’s the top port in the nation for automobile shipments, having imported and exported more than 750,000 vehicles in 2022, according to the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, an industry group.

    continues....

    screenshots from within the article....


    So this article says two things that caught my attention.

    "Supply chain stresses" and "key trade lane"

    If prices were raised this port seems to be a "key" one so adding extra safety shouldn't matter for costs.

    Didn't we already uncover that the supply chain thing was all bullshit?  Are they still pushing that narrative or is the reporter lost?
    no , that shit was domestic shenanigans wasnt it(?), its referring to , I believe, the increased traffic into other ports means more truck traffic for that port, delays in loafing/unloading. In that light it is a stressor on the system.

    not to mention how Baltimore is situated geographically . Its closer to our interior destinations than either NY or NJ or the southern ports, increased distance to final destination adds to costs, fuel etc....



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    mickeyratmickeyrat up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,886

     
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    Concrete structures meant to protect Baltimore bridge appear unchanged for decades NPR
    By Chiara Eisner,
    Caitlin Thompson
    Published April 4, 2024 at 5:13 AM EDT
    The cargo ship Dali sits in the water surrounded by four concrete dolphins after running into and collapsing the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26 2024 in Baltimore
    Tasos Katopodis
    /
    Getty Images
    The cargo ship Dali sits in the water, surrounded by four concrete dolphins, after running into and collapsing the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, 2024, in Baltimore.

    Seconds before the container ship Dali hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore last week and tore it down, killing six construction workers, it sailed past a structure designed to prevent that kind of disaster.

    Those structures — known as dolphins — are circular concrete constructions located near a bridge's central supports. Vessels are meant to crash into them if they veer off track in the shipping channel, diverting them from collision with the bridge. Four such dolphins remain intact in the Patapsco River. The one the Dali narrowly missed is located on the right side of the ship, and is dwarfed in size by the vessel which appears to be more than 15 times as long.

    Experts said if the Baltimore bridge had been outfitted with more robust collision-prevention structures, it may not have been struck. Although Maryland has invested in repairing the Key Bridge, records reviewed by NPR indicate the dolphins have not been substantially changed since they were built in the 1970s.

    A more robust protection system would have given the Dali a better chance of hitting the dolphins before the vessel collided with the bridge, said Roberto Leon, a professor of structural engineering at Virginia Tech.

    "They were very, very small," said Leon. "You needed more, and bigger ones, is really the point."

    Four concrete circular dolphins lie next to the remains of the Francis Scott Key Bridge
    Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images
    /
    Getty Images
    Four concrete, circular dolphins lie next to the remains of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

    When the Key Bridge was opened in 1977, cargo ships sailing through the Port of Baltimore were smaller and lighter than modern ones. The dolphins, which were added shortly after the bridge was finished, have saved the structure at least once. In 1980, a ship crashed into one dolphin, destroying it but sparing the bridge.

    Since then, the sizes of cargo ships have ballooned. They can now carry about 10 times more weight and extend almost two times as long as when the Key Bridge and its dolphins were designed. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, the organization that sets standards for bridge construction safety, requires newer bridges to build robust collision prevention structures. Many ports have them.

    Satellite imagery of bridges critical to 15 of the busiest U.S. ports indicates there are few bridges like the Key Bridge that lack immediate protection for their main support piers. The bridges' central supports are more often protected by fenders, islands of rocks, concrete beds or land — the use of remotely located dolphins or no protection at all is less common.

    But the transportation rules don't strictly require that collision-protection structures built with older bridges be fortified or replaced. Instead, in 1991, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials set guidelines for assessing bridges to determine whether or not they should be updated.

    Some conducted those analyses. John Hanson, the CEO of the Delaware River Port Authority, the group that stewards four bridges that cross the Delaware River between Pennsylvania and New Jersey, said they completed a vulnerability assessment in 2003 and determined that updates were not needed for the Betsy Ross Bridge's dolphins in Philadelphia. Among the bridges of the 15 busiest ports, the Betsy Ross was the most similar in structure to the Key Bridge, and one of the only ones that also uses dolphins to protect it.

    Even so, satellite imagery shows the dolphins constructed around the Betsy Ross Bridge appear more robust than the ones surrounding the now collapsed bridge in Baltimore, said Kim Roddis, a structural engineer and professor at George Washington University.

    "It's definitely more protective," said Roddis. "One of those is really quite large."

    NPR asked the Maryland Transportation Authority whether a threat assessment had been conducted for the Key Bridge and whether the agency had invested in enhancing the dolphins' structures since they were built in the 70s. The agency did not respond.

    Every year, the Maryland Department of Transportation conducts a report that evaluates the state's transportation infrastructure and determines its priorities for investment. Repairs to the bridge were suggested in 2017, that year's annual report states, and satellite imagery indicates two transmission towers were constructed between 2019 and 2022, on the side of the bridge closer to Baltimore city. But nautical charts show the current sizes of the dolphins are similar to their original 1978 dimensions — the four don't appear to have been significantly enlarged since then.

    Leon, the professor of structural engineering at Virginia Tech, said states face tough choices when it comes to spending on infrastructure.

    "They have lacked resources for many years," he said. "And so they tend to take care of what they think are the more urgent problems."

    But putting off this kind of investment can have dangerous consequences, he said.

    "Unfortunately, we have taken things for granted for too long. We haven't done the appropriate maintenance, the appropriate upgrading," remarked Leon. "And so this is the result of that."

    Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

    Chiara Eisner
    Chiara Eisner is a reporter for NPR's investigations team. Eisner came to NPR from The State in South Carolina, where her investigative reporting on the experiences of former execution workers received McClatchy's President's Award and her coverage of the biomedical horseshoe crab industry led to significant restrictions of the harvest.
    Caitlin Thompson
    Caitlin Thompson (she/her) is the Roy W. Howard Fellow on NPR's investigations unit.
    © 2024 WOSU Public Media

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    brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,760
    Sorry to go off topic a second. but how does something like this...
    The cargo ship Dali sits in the water surrounded by four concrete dolphins after running into and collapsing the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26 2024 in Baltimore

    ...go out to sea and not lose half its cargo when this happens:

    Watch Massive rogue wave batter cruise ship in North Sea terrifying  passengers  Fox Weather
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













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    mickeyratmickeyrat up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,886
    from its wiki page...

    I served on 2 different aircraft carriers. cv 62 and 64. each displaced 80ish tons fully loaded. felt very little movement with the bering sea being an exception.



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    Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
    you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
    memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
    another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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    mickeyratmickeyrat up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,886

    _____________________________________SIGNATURE________________________________________________

    Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
    you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
    memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
    another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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    tempo_n_groovetempo_n_groove Posts: 39,066
    mickeyrat said:
    from its wiki page...

    I served on 2 different aircraft carriers. cv 62 and 64. each displaced 80ish tons fully loaded. felt very little movement with the bering sea being an exception.



    A 1000 foot ship is a luxury liner, lol.  Try being on a 100' ship in that crap.  I once saw 60' swells in the gulf of Alaska.  20' were common in the Bering.  Very cool u got to be up there too.

    Brian big ships occasionally get whacked from the odd rogue waves.  Those are the widowmakers.
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    tempo_n_groovetempo_n_groove Posts: 39,066
    mickeyrat said:

    Nice, very nice.
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    Halifax2TheMaxHalifax2TheMax Posts: 36,657
    mickeyrat said:
    from its wiki page...

    I served on 2 different aircraft carriers. cv 62 and 64. each displaced 80ish tons fully loaded. felt very little movement with the bering sea being an exception.



    A 1000 foot ship is a luxury liner, lol.  Try being on a 100' ship in that crap.  I once saw 60' swells in the gulf of Alaska.  20' were common in the Bering.  Very cool u got to be up there too.

    Brian big ships occasionally get whacked from the odd rogue waves.  Those are the widowmakers.
    Speaking of rogue waves, an excellent read. The author even hung out with Kelly Slater and Ed for one of the chapters. Crazy stuff.

    https://www.amazon.ca/Wave-Pursuit-Rogues-Freaks-Giants/dp/0385666683/ref=asc_df_0385666683/?tag=googlemobshop-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=292981860857&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17940642256364067577&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9001599&hvtargid=pla-451357934781&psc=1&mcid=1548fd74e8813db2a2f2f4ede7a8b817
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    brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,760
    mickeyrat said:
    from its wiki page...

    I served on 2 different aircraft carriers. cv 62 and 64. each displaced 80ish tons fully loaded. felt very little movement with the bering sea being an exception.



    A 1000 foot ship is a luxury liner, lol.  Try being on a 100' ship in that crap.  I once saw 60' swells in the gulf of Alaska.  20' were common in the Bering.  Very cool u got to be up there too.

    Brian big ships occasionally get whacked from the odd rogue waves.  Those are the widowmakers.

    Not fun!  I'm still surprised to see those containers stacked up the way they are.  I would think even just normal rough seas would cause them to come loss and fall into the ocean.  They must have some strong cinching mechanisms.  
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













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    mickeyratmickeyrat up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,886
    _____________________________________SIGNATURE________________________________________________

    Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
    you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
    memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
    another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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    tbergstbergs Posts: 9,248
    All this talk about cargo ships and ports in Baltimore just makes me think of season 2 of The Wire. Ol' Frank Sobotka's crew would be out of work. Damn cans.
    It's a hopeless situation...
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    brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,760
    mickeyrat said:

    Excellent and informative, thanks!  Amazing that the larger ships can hold 24,000 of those large containers.  That's a lot of shit!
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













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    mickeyratmickeyrat up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,886

     

    Fourth temporary channel to open allowing stranded ships to leave Port of Baltimore

    baltimore

    By Christian Olaniran, Alex Glaze

    Updated on: April 25, 2024 / 5:25 AM EDT / CBS Baltimore

    BALTIMORE -- A fourth temporary channel is scheduled to open at the Port of Baltimore on Thursday, according to the U.S. Coast Guard Captain of the Port. 

    That fourth channel will only be open for four days, but at 35 feet deep and 300 feet wide it will allow several ships that are stuck in the Port of Baltimore to get out.

    Many ships have been stranded at the port since the March 26 collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

    "Around that 35-foot draft is where you're really starting to get some of the inventory that's coming onboard that had really been some of the hallmarks of The Port of Baltimore," Governor Moore explained in a press conference Tuesday.

    channeljpg

    Captain David O'Connell - with the U.S. Coast Guard - says there are currently seven ships ready to get out of the port. Five will be able to get out, including a loaded car-carrier.   

    Dr. Christina DePasquale, a professor at Johns Hopkins's Carey Business School who focuses on economics, says having a car transporter being able to use the temporary 35-foot shipping channel is huge. 

    "That's one of the port's claims to fame, right? We have the most car imports in the U.S. coming through that port," DePasquale said.

    Commercial ships will also be using the fourth temporary channel to come into the port. 

    "I know we have a container barge, which is scheduled to come in. We have another small bulker coming in, and another aluminum ship would be scheduled to come in during that time frame as well," O'Connell said. 

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expects to reopen the main shipping channel - which is 700 feet wide and 50 feet deep - by the end of May. 

    "There's no way around it that in terms of the impact on the local and the state economy, we want to resume 100 percent of pre-collapse activity because it just contributes to so many jobs in the economy, contributes to so much income that flows through both the city, the county and the rest of the state," DePasquale said.

    A third temporary channel has opened at the Port of Baltimore, according to a statement from the Baltimore Captain of the Port (COTP).

    It's a sign of progress, as the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge is already expected to trigger an increase in the cost of goods.

    Unlike previous channels, this has a depth of 20 feet, which could allow larger commercial vessels to transport goods in and out of the port. 

    "As previously shared, the first two temporary alternate channels opened by the COTP are not deep enough to accommodate the larger oceangoing container vessels that Maersk and other carriers use to call upon Baltimore and other USEC ports," the COTP said.   

    With the main channel closed, businesses have had to use alternative methods to transport their products. 

    With nearly half of the 700-foot main shipping channel cleared, salvage teams are now focused on the portion of the span on top of the Dali.  

    Christian Olaniran

    Christian Olaniran is a Digital Producer for CBS News Baltimore, where he writes stories on diverse topics including politics, arts, culture, sports and more. He also creates engaging social media content to complement news coverage.

    First published on April 24, 2024 / 3:17 PM EDT

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    Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
    you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
    memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
    another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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