There was a terrible accident at a bridge in Baltimore — it was struck by a container ship and collapsed horrifically. I didn’t think I had anything to contribute to the discussion. Minnesota had a terrible bridge collapse back in 2007, but that was a consequence of neglect and failure to maintain critical infrastructure. This event seems to be completely different.
But then I looked at the news and noticed that a lot of idiots are throwing out explanations. Hey, I have no engineering expertise, know nothing about bridge construction, but have ridden on a ship a few times, therefore I’m just as qualified as the Fox News team or Victor Davis Hansen, or some guy who has appeared on Ancient Aliens, therefore I should opine.
You should look at how they’re explaining the crash.
A non-exhaustive list of things that are getting blamed for the bridge collapse on Telegram and X include: President Joe Biden, Hamas, ISIS, P Diddy, Nickelodeon, India, former President Barack Obama, Islam, aliens, Sri Lanka, the World Economic Forum, the United Nations, Wokeness, Ukraine, foreign aid, the CIA, Jewish people, Israel, Russia, China, Iran, Covid vaccines, DEI, immigrants, Black people and lockdowns.
The Francis Scott Key truss bridge actually collapsed when the MV Dali cargo ship collided with one of the bridge supports. Six construction workers, who were filling potholes on the bridge at the time, are presumed dead. The ship is owned by Singapore-based Grace Ocean Private Ltd, and the 22-person crew were all Indian. The ship was on route to Colombo, Sri Lanka at the time of the accident.
This did not stop people from “asking questions” about the incident, a frequent conspiracist response to major events. And though conspiracy theorists are having a hard time pinpointing exactly what conspiracy caused the collapse, the one thing they do agree on is that this incident is a “black swan event.”
The term “black swan event” has been around for decades, and is used to describe a major global event (typically in the financial markets) that can cause significant damage to a country’s economy. But in recent years, the term has been co-opted by the conspiracy minded to explain an event triggered by the so-called deep state that would signal an imminent revolution, a third world war, or some other apocalyptic catastrophe.
Man, a lot of them blame DEI, which seems to be the go-to excuse on the right wing for everything. I don’t get it, though. This ship was crewed by Indians, and the bridge, the victim in this collision, was crewed by immigrant labor, so we can’t blame the magic word “DEI” for that. Fortunately, I, a non-engineer, am here to explain the problem and how to fix it.
The bridge was clearly under-engineered. It crumpled so easily with a slight bump! Clearly, those pilings (or whatever bridge people call them — you know, the bits sticking up out of the water holding up the road) were flimsy and inadequate, and need to be built back stronger. As it is, they probably wouldn’t hold up if they were slammed by a 6-ton wrecking ball, so it’s back to drawing board, and they need to be built with the goal of standing up to the force of a 100,000 ton wrecking ball traveling at 8 knots. Easy, right? I am also not a physicist, so I will leave it to the smarter people here to calculate the amount of force it needs to resist. It’s something like 
, where you have to multiply and divide and solve for F, way above my pay grade.
So, yeah, just build bridges that are that strong.
I’m not sure where Wokeness or P Diddy or vaccines fit into the equation. We might need to recruit some social scientists to work on the bridge redesign team, and I’m definitely not smart enough for that stuff.
Or I could stand back and let competent people find solutions, which probably don’t involve impossibly strong structures or firing people with the wrong skin color, but where’s the fun in that?
If you push something hard enough, it will fall over — Fudd’s First Law of Opposition.
The bridge supports had no “dolphins”, i.e. concrete bollards, around their base, so there was nothing to prevent a ship from running into the supports. Also, this bridge is relatively old. It was built well before the era of ships this large.
True the bridge was under engineered to withstand the impact of a 100,000 ton container ship which didn’t exist when the bridge was built. But there is another partner in this collapse, the ship and its power failure which meant the crew had no control over the ship. First question, why wasn’t the ship being moved by tugs which would eliminate the risk of engine failure. Something which could be managed in the open ocean far more easily than in a busy port with limited manoeuvring room. Was it a cost cutting measure to save the expense of using tugs? Which brings me to the engine failure. Could poor maintenance have contributed. The company which owns this ship has been caught out several times overworking and not paying their crews, including on this ship. Maritime authorities have detained this and other ships owned by the same company for this and other reasons. If they cut costs by not paying their crews do they also cut costs by neglecting maintenance?
Cross-posted from the Infinite Thread:
Letters to the Editor: The Baltimore bridge collapse is tragic. This the wrong solution
I suspect Tony Gitt is also not an engineer. That furthermore, he has no idea of the amount of time which would be necessary to prepare for a tunnel project before any actual boring took place. He also seems totally unfamiliar with Elon Musk’s record of briging in projects on time and under budget. I suggest some quick research in that regard on the Tesla Cybertruck and Full Self Driving.
Are there any bridges built to withstand the impact of a 100,000 ton ship?
“Was it a cost-cutting measure to save the expense of using tugs?”
Also, the cost-cutting by overworking the crew.
I see a common theme here, that coincides with the ultimate cause of the train that was derailed: cost-cutting.
This could be avoided by stricter rules. You know, rules like that huge pile of federal rules President 45 bragged about abolishing.
Obviously the solution requires deregulation and tax cuts for the wealthy….
The bridge was obviously woke.
I do not know how exactly this caused the accident – just as it is hard to find out exactly how the Jews control the world- but I am happy to let the geniuses at Fox News solve the enigma.
That is just silly.
It was woke. Woke explains everything the right wingnuits don’t like these days.
It was also Trans people. Trans people also explain everything the right wingnuts don’t like these days.
Don’t forget the Drag Queens.
So that bridge in Baltimore collapsed because of woke, Trans people, Drag Queens.
In recent times past like 10 years ago, that bridge would have been destroyed by demons. Demons used to be everywhere explaining everything. And UFO aliens. We’ve moved on to more plausible explanations.
This is all because we are living in the Last Days and the End is near when jesus comes back to kill 8 billion people and destroy the earth.
Matt G @ 7
Finally, someone who gets it !
Take what I say here with the same block of salt that applies to all our comments on this subject here.
After the Sunshine Skyway Bridge collapse (near Tampa), which also got struck by a ship, they did put in those “dolphins”, so presumably the engineers think they add to the safety.
I read that tugs would not have been sufficient to stop the Dali. They are used mostly for slow maneuvering right near the docks.
Cost-cutting? I suspect that comes closest to the root cause. The ship was having electrical problems at least 48 hours to launching (supposedly due to too many refrigerated boxes hooked up to the ship’s electrical system), but they sent it out anyways. I would bet it was corporate pressure (similar to what’s happened at Boeing) “training” the crew to just get it done. They had a schedule to keep.
@5:
A rubber bridge would be able to absorb the impact and bounce right back into shape.
re Reginald Selkirk @4: Trucks carrying hazardous materials are not allowed to use tunnels in many places, and I believe that applies in Maryland. So a tunnel is a non-solution to the problem to begin with, notwithstanding the logics of actually building a tunnel.
Has anyone considered that Taylor Swift and the Kansas City Chiefs might be responsible?
The Baltimore Ravens had the temerity to challenge the Chiefs’ right to go to the Super Bowl just a couple of months ago. They came close (17-10) to ruining the Deep State plot for Swift to get network air time to push Biden’s presidential candidacy.
Other cities are also in danger. Beware, Buffalo and San Francisco–you’re probably next.
Seriously, I’m no engineer either, but I do watch a lot of shows featuring sinking ships and collapsing bridges. (Also crashing planes, derailing trains and collapsing buildings. I have always been fascinated by failure.) What I know is that 100,000 ton ships don’t stop on a dime, and without power they don’t steer for shit. Dropping anchor at that speed can have its own problems, like the ship swinging about and crashing anyway. Bridges are designed to structurally transfer loads to the pylons and have cables and struts under tension. Take out a pylon or even just a set of cable stays or a strut and the whole thing goes sproing and comes down. Newer bridges mostly avoid having single points of failure, but this bridge was completed, I think, in 1977. Also, in 1977 there weren’t ships of that size–and there wasn’t much room for error when passing under that bridge. Not sure why the tugboats didn’t stay with it long enough to get it past the bridge–that might be a money-saving measure, indeed. I wouldn’t be surprised if the ship was undermanned.
I suppose we could wait for the investigation to conclude, but where’s the fun in that?
DEI seems to be the white Christian nationalist lie du jour.
I remember that, just before the last election, the two big lies were Critical Race Theory (IIRC, a post-graduate curriculum taught mainly in law schools and that has never been taught, and couldn’t be taught, at the primary and secondary levels) and “protecting girls’ sports.” (One candidate for the state house of representatives in western Missouri was hyperventilating about one trans woman who once got a bronze medal in one collegiate swimming meet.)
The point is to make the MAGAts afraid, which turns out to be easy.
@14: Football-wise, Buffalo has never had a problem sinking its own ship.
I did a lot of web reading since the collapse. There are bridges pylons that are likely sufficient to protect the support from a ship of this size. The two I focused on were the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge (since I live near both – and my Grandfather was the Army Corps of Engineers supervising engineer – the inspecting authority – when both bridges were built!). Both built LONG before the Francis Scott Key bridge – and both built with hefty “dolphins” more as part of earthquake preparedness than to survive being struck by a ship the size of (and going the speed of) the Dali.
Two or three structural engineers were of the opinion that the known construction of their “dolphins” should suffice (to protect the bridge piers themselves) being struck by ships of this size/speed. All should be characterized as “informed, educated opinions” as they freely admitted NOT having the exact specifications.
I actually do know why the Baltimore bridge collapsed.
It was because nobody bothered to look it up on the search engine Google.
I know this because I just looked it up on Google.
I put the question into Google, “Would tugboats have prevented the Baltimore bridge collapse?”
Probably yes.
This was the first hit from Google, edited for length.
.1. Tugboats would have helped a lot.
That is what they are for and what they do.
‘With tugboats attached, you have immediate power available to modify the movement of a vessel’
.2. In similar ports with hazardous entries and exits, tugboats are mandatory.
So yeah, hindsight is 20:20.
They saved a few bucks here and there and now they have a bridge to replace.
Here’s a thought: Why are they bringing 100kt ships into the Patapsco River, much less the 250km from the Atlantic up Chesapeake Bay to the Patapsco River?
As far as tunnels versus bridges, they don’t need Musk…of course. There already is a tunnel across the entrance to Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel is 28+ km long and opened in 1964, seven years before Musk was born.
The cause is greed. The ship’s owners didn’t want to pay for proper maintenance and that cause the power failure which resulted in the collision.
As for the bridge collapse, that issue is not the bridge design but the lack of protection around the pillars as has been mentioned. Lack of adequate public infrastructure spending and planning and the stupidity of trying to save a few bucks. That will cost billions in direct and indirect costs.
There was a Baltimore harbor pilot on board. Pilots are responsible for guiding large ships in harbor areas. A steering casualty may have been responsible. This is a failure of the rudder mechanism or its hydraulics. Technically speaking, the support structure of a bridge is called a pier and this was an allision as one object was not in motion.
There’s a good analysis in the following article:
Could huge concrete barriers have averted the Key Bridge collapse?
Conclusion: Given the size of the ship and its speed, nothing much could have protected the bridge.
My big question is, why was a cargo ship that big named after a Surrealist painter?!
@2, daved:
This may be slightly inaccurate.
In one of the discussions I read, someone posted the water navigation map, pointing out the “dolphins” that were in place had been marked as navigation hazards and indicating that they were submerged at high tide; and I’ve seen other articles that discussed them. As such, it seems likely that the problem wasn’t that there were “no” dolphins; rather, that to deal with the impact load of modern supersize cargo ships they were
* too few in number
* placed too far from the bridge, and
* were not designed large enough.
I live in a city (Halifax, Nova Scotia) that depends on two suspension bridges to get most of its traffic across the harbour. I think we had a collective freak-out after what happened in Baltimore, to the extent that officials reassured the public: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1.7156382
Raging Bee @ #22 — Because Hyundai Heavy Industries, which built the ship, picked the name. There’s a sister ship named Cezanne after in Paul Cézanne. I hope the Cezanne does come near the Golden Gate Bridge.
Reginald Selkirk @12
Pretty sure it would still be vulnerable…
A longer main span would require fewer piers, but the feasibility of doing that would require careful study of the geology.
That list of those-to-blame conspicuously omits “atheists”.
Our cover-up is working!
Flying cars (and trucks) would eliminate the need for bridges. ;)
robro @ 19
Because that’s the only way to sail a ship from the Atlantic Ocean to the Port of Baltimore.
Effectively, you’re asking, why use the Port of Baltimore? That’s a business question, not an engineering one.
The situation calls out for a capitalistic solution. We should turn to corporate sponsorship to pay the cost of rebuilding the bridge, once we allow them to rename it the PepsiCo River.
Allison @ #31 — Actually I’m asking why use the Port of Baltimore for 100k ships? Or perhaps, is there a “safe size” for ships that go to the Port of Baltimore? And, what’s the governance of port facilities and the size and type of shipping they can support?
Other smaller ships might be safer. There are areas closer to the bay per se yet still near Baltimore with better access for large ships that could be developed…and I understand…with all the environmental wreckage that entails.
Perhaps a related question is…why are they using 100k ton ships at all? I assume it’s cheaper to operate. I wouldn’t be surprised that the onboard crews are about the same size as smaller ships. And I recall seeing info pieces about the shipping industry pushing up the sizes of ships. In fact, there was a big ship that ran aground in the Suez not long ago. stopping traffic in the canal, which really impacted international trade. I recall seeing questions about the size of ships that are safe in the Suez, but that topic quickly disappeared.
Flying cars (and trucks) would eliminate the need for bridges. ;)
Fully Self-Driving flying cars and trucks! It’s the way of the future! (the way of the future! the way of the future! the way of the future! the way of the future! the way of the future! the way of the future!) What could possibly go wrong?
Elongated Muskie can build us a tunnel across the Pacific Ocean, then we won’t need ships at all.
Ever since reading “The Elements of Structure” by W. Morgan, I’ve looked at static engineering like buildings and bridges in a different way. I’m now cognizant that buildings without steel frames are just piles of rocks waiting for something like an earthquake or flood to knock them down. A steel frame can help somewhat by taking up the tension and shear forces like wind on a skyscraper’s sides. Masonry is only strong in compression, which is why when a shear force, like a 100k container ship hits a pier, the pier has little chance to survive. IMHO, A ship that large hitting that pier would be like kicking over a human high pile of bricks wrapped in chicken wire.
Dolphins and Tugs could help, but the greedy bastards that didn’t maintain their ship are the real villains of this story. Of course the laws we’ve allowed investor class to build to around their liability for the actions of their companies means the ultimate culprits will get away Scott free. Capitalism is at it’s core a way for the wealthy to absolve themselves of responsibility.
DEI was definitely what caused this! An albino monk planned it all from behind the scenes!!
Oh, wait, that’s Opus Dei. Never mind, wrong conspiracy theory…
Build the bridge to withstand the impact of a 100,000 ton ship? Not all that easy. In 1975 the Tasman bridge in Hobart Tasmania was similarly struck by a bulk ore carrier and one span collapsed killing several people and sinking the ship. The bridge was rebuilt but the piers supporting it were never strengthened so the risk remains. Instead whenever a ship has to pass under the bridge traffic is stopped on the bridge approaches until the ship passes through.
Seems like the collapse had the same root cause as the prior bridge in Minn: negligence in regards to maintenance.
Seems like the collapse had the same root cause as the prior bridge in Minn: negligence in regards to maintenance.
robro @33 etc
Moving ports down estuary has happened in places where there are suitable alternatives, and the freed up space is worth enough, it had started happening in London and Manchester by the beginning of the last century.
Are there any bridges built to withstand the impact of a 100,000 ton ship?
http://www.mprnews.org/story/2024/03/27/replacement-blatnik-bridge-plans-safety-measures-in-case-of-future-ship-collision
@3 garydargan
Problem is, if you look at images of the water way, it wasn’t even “in port”, but in the area leading up to it. So, technically what would be much more “open area”, with low risk of problems. Seen a few things from online, including sort of geek engineer types, that point out that a ship that size, with cargo, weighs enough that almost nothing could stop it, if it lost power, so.. tugs or not… And, to be clear, tugs could lose power too, causing the same issue. I do think that something like a deflection berm, or what ever you call it, on the base would have been a good idea, but its been pointed out that our infrastructure is out of date, both in terms of maintenance, as well as technology, compared to.. almost anyone. However, the last point made, by quite a few people, is that we have been utterly complacent about risk, with respect to supply chains, and while a bridge having something happen too it is bad, and the loss of life is bad, the utter and complete lack of even a normally not operating at capacity port, as an alternative, to which ships could be directed WHEN these things happen is just plain idiotic. It would be like if we had only one airport in each region of the country and goods that where flown in had to be redirected to some place thousands of miles from there intended destination every time the runway got icy some place, or something else happened to derail delivery. Except, even in that kind of mess, we are talking hours, or a few days, to fix get the runway up again, not possibly weeks, so.. yeah, having a hard time thinking of any case where both travel, and goods deliver, could be this screwed up by one event, and with no bloody way to get it to its destination – just freaking literally ships, trying to get to a port, where something blocked the port. Its ridiculous.
Baltimore already has a harbor tunnel on I895 that’s located further inside the harbor. I think it was built in the1950s well before the Key bridge was constructed. I assume the reason the bridge was built instead of another tunnel is due to the shallower water depth in that portion of the river. It’s also not true that it doesn’t have dolphins. They’re just too small and too far away from the bridge pylons. The ship missed them completely. I don’t know that it would’ve mattered anyway with a ship that size relative to the size of the bridge. I’ve always thought the much larger Chesapeake Bay Bridge isn’t as well protected as it should be either for all the ship traffic that passes under it. Driving on it, you can see the long line of huge ships anchored south of it waiting to pass through to enter Baltimore and it’s crossed my mind whether the pylons would be able to handle an impact if it ever happened.
As for building a harbor for bigger ships elsewhere in the Chesapeake, I can’t think where you’d put it. Also, Baltimore is part of the I95 corridor that links D.C., Philly, NY, etc. which makes it the most convenient and economical place to transport goods. The next best place would probably be Virginia Harbor in Norfolk which already exists and will likely be used while Baltimore harbor is inaccessible.
And a funny bit of irony about those blaming DEI, as if that somehow lowers qualification standards: Baltimore actually has a majority black population, so a DEI hire would be a mediocre white guy in this case. Also revolting, but unsurprising, is how these same people rushed to offer “thoughts and prayers” for the construction workers and their families until they found out they were immigrants from Mexico and Central America. Now their deaths don’t count, apparently.