1 Like
What barrier would have stopped or deflected that mass?
1 Like
That is quite understandable. I have no idea what he envisioned for his channel but because of the times it ended up having a fair amount of content explaining things. Like “these are the obligations of a country that seizes a yacht” or “ this is the knowledge of the shell companies and the beneficial owner”.
2 Likes
When a 900-foot container ship struck the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge in 2007, the span stood firm and no one died, either on the ship or the highway above. [ the dali is (984 ft) ]
The bridge’s supports were protected by a fendering system of concrete and other materials that was installed to absorb such strikes. And it’s now prompting the question: Could such a system — or others like it — have saved Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge?
Some experts are saying yes.
emphasis mine. but even if it had just delayed the bridge from collapsing completely, that could have saved lives
from a nyt paywalled article:
7 Likes
If you are trying to get me to agree to fund more infrastructure projects, then I don’t need any convincing.
If you are looking to point fingers, then blame everyone who voted to reduce government spending and lower taxes on the rich and businesses. Blame everyone who voted against improving infrastructure.
Coincidentally, the people howling the loudest about this accident are the exact people who voted against infrastructure.
5 Likes
absolutely. i never thought different.
and it’s doubly bad when you consider how particularly under served the city of baltimore is – despite it being so critical to the nation’s economy and infrastructure.
i figure some racism is to blame here as well.
(eta: maybe that’s why “ship size” – is kind of a distraction, actually. it’s more the lack of investment, protection, and care that seems to blame. all of which flows from, as you say the push to lower taxes, reduce spending, and, i think, racism )
6 Likes
11 Likes
And $5 million/day lost to the local economy. Not to mention lost jobs associated to that networked economy.
4 Likes
The black smoke could easily be the Emergency Diesel Generator firing up. They typically “blow coal” at startup.
Of course, from what it looked like in the videos (2nd blackout), the EDG died shortly afterwards.
4 Likes
I wasn’t sure if that was the EDG or if it was the engines suddenly running the screws in full reverse. The AIS indicated the ship slowed from 8 knots to 6 knots after calling the mayday, and that’s a lot of mass they managed to slow down, so I assume they sent every horse in the stable to try to stop it. That sudden increase to max power will make any diesel choke out a thick cloud of black smoke.
2 Likes
Once a ship has a blackout, it takes a while to bring back all systems back online. Definitely way more than 5 or even 10 minutes. At least two generators have to be running to supply power to things like the fuel pumps, starting jack, etc.
5 Likes
Ships are already required to have personnel posted on the bow, ready to drop the anchor in an emergency—as they did.
In the future, do expect that there will be tug escorts past the FSK Bridge. Such was one of the corrective measures enforced for tanker ships entering and exiting Prince William Sound, after the Valdez Oil Spill. Tugs may even have to keep lines attached to a ship, even past the bridge as added insurance.
Tug service companies will love this, as the added time spent with a ship may result in increased revenue, as well as require additions to their fleet.
Edit:
This guy and his YouTube channel knows way more about the subject than I do. We all can learn a lot about the latest and greatest on the M/V Dali’s allision with the FSK Bridge. Here’s “Skipper” Sal (a very respectful name!) read on all the info he’s collected. No better source on the subject. And I stand corrected by his account.
7 Likes
This is a thing by us.
When a ship loses power they drop anchor almost instantly.
This was a few years ago, it becomes a community event once word gets out.
Last fall something similar happened on two occasions that required a few tugs.
4 Likes
the 1966 build Idemitsu Maru was heavier (and overall bigger) than the 2014 build Dali;
Idemitsu Maru tonnage ~100,000 gt, load-capacity ~200,000 t
“Dali” tonnage ~95,000 gt, load-capacity ~110,000 t
this fixation on container ships is really weird, when you see how massive oil tankers already were 1972.
Im gonna die on that hill; they should have accounted for such events in 1972; it wasnt a “freak-accident” and it wasnt a “black-swan-event”, the pros saw it coming for quite some time and I bet that at least some people with the expertise saw it likewise 1972.
2 Likes
Zero oil tankers enter the port at Baltimore.
1 Like
Not the point.
2 Likes
From the post i was responding to:
Is it unreasonable to assume that since oil tankers were huge, that other ships will get huge in the useful life of the bridge?
2 Likes
I dont get the rush to blame engineers working over 50 years ago and not blame all the people that didn’t upgrade the bridge’s protection in the last 50 years as ships got bigger and traffic greatly increased. 
3 Likes
It’s both.
3 Likes
