BALTIMORE — A major bridge collapsed in Baltimore on Tuesday morning after it was hit by a container ship, sending several vehicles plunging into the water below.
Emergency responders were searching for at least seven people who were missing, and two were rescued from the water after the ship collided with a pillar supporting part of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which carries the Interstate 695 over the Patapsco River southeast of the Baltimore metropolitan area.
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“It’s easy to make everything a conspiracy when you don’t know how anything works.” — Brandon L. Bradford
This is the result of globalisation, where the company responsible for the shipping (Maersk) then contracts it to a third party ("Synergy Marine Group"), who in turn finds the absolute cheapest (and, we can safely assume, least qualified) labour to actually run the ships. It is unclear if this incident is due to poor maintenance or lack of competence, but either way this is what happens with everything outsourced for the absolute bottom dollar.
Maersk had this to say:
A spokesman for Maersk said:
"We are horrified by what has happened in Baltimore, and our thoughts are with all of those affected. We can confirm that the container vessel Dali, operated by charter vessel company Synergy Group, is time chartered by Maersk and is carrying Maersk customers’ cargo. No Maersk crew and personnel were onboard the vessel."
Well, what a relief.
In America, we have come to expect that ships don't just regularly collide with bridges, and certainly don't result in 20 cars drowning in the water, but globalisation and the relentless drive to oursource means you should probably expect more of this in the future. Such is part and parcel of living in a vibrant city like Baltimore.
A United States Coast Guard (USCG) study of towing vessels and barge collisions with bridges located on the U.S. inland waterway system during the 10-year period from 1992 to 2001 revealed that there were 2,692 accidents with bridges (USCG 2003). Only 61 of these caused bridge damage in excess of US$500,000 (1,702 caused very minor damage with no repair costs to the bridge), and none resulted in fatalities. The study concluded that 90% of the barge tow accidents were related to human performance (78% to pilot error and 12% to other operational factors). Only 5% were related to mechanical problems, and for the remaining 5% there was insufficient information to assign a cause.
Creating a narrative that this doesn’t happen in the US is simply not true.
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Soloist, but I hate singing alone Soloist, but my wife posts with me Soloist, but I believe in community Soloist, but I want God in the pilot seat
A United States Coast Guard (USCG) study of towing vessels and barge collisions with bridges located on the U.S. inland waterway system during the 10-year period from 1992 to 2001 revealed that there were 2,692 accidents with bridges (USCG 2003). Only 61 of these caused bridge damage in excess of US$500,000 (1,702 caused very minor damage with no repair costs to the bridge), and none resulted in fatalities. The study concluded that 90% of the barge tow accidents were related to human performance (78% to pilot error and 12% to other operational factors). Only 5% were related to mechanical problems, and for the remaining 5% there was insufficient information to assign a cause.
Creating a narrative that this doesn’t happen in the US is simply not true.
How many resulted in 20 cars falling into the bay, with casualties?
This kind of negligence and incompetence is common in the third world, but used to be unacceptable in America. That is changing, particularly as Americans working in jobs are being replaced by foreigners, such as the crew of this vessel.
Sept. 15, 2001: A tugboat and barge struck the Queen Isabella Causeway in Port Isabel, Texas, causing a midsection of the bridge to tumble 80 feet into the bay below. Eight people died after motorists drove into the hole.
EADS BRIDGE: 50 INJURED
April 14, 1998: The Anne Holly tow traveling through the St. Louis Harbor rammed into the center span of the Eads Bridge. Eight barges broke away. Three of them hit a permanently moored gambling vessel below the bridge. Fifty people suffered minor injuries.
BIG BAYOU CANOT: 47 DEAD
Sept. 22, 1993: Barges being pushed by a towboat in dense fog hit and displaced the Big Bayou Canot railroad bridge near Mobile, Alabama. Minutes later, an Amtrak train with 220 people aboard reached the displaced bridge and derailed, killing 47 people and injuring 103 people.
SEEBER BRIDGE: 1 DEAD
May 28, 1993: The towboat Chris, pushing the empty hopper barge DM3021, hit a support tier of the Judge William Seeber Bridge in New Orleans. Two spans and the two-column bent collapsed onto the barge. Two cars carrying three people fell with the four-lane bridge deck into a canal. One person died and two people were seriously injured.
SUNSHINE SKYWAY BRIDGE: 35 DEAD
May 9, 1980: The 609-foot freighter Summit Venture was navigating through the narrow, winding shipping channel of Florida’s Tampa Bay when a sudden, blinding squall knocked out the ship’s radar. The ship sheared off a support of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, dropping a 1,400-foot section of concrete roadway during the morning rush hour. Seven vehicles, including a bus with 26 aboard, fell 150 feet into the water. Thirty-five people died.
Of course none of these were 20 cars resulting in casualties. The numbers are off.
I don’t really care enough to go looking into each one of these to see if it was a foreigner or an American operating the ship. That doesn’t really matter. Accidents happen, and this one may end up not being the pilots fault after investigation.
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Soloist, but I hate singing alone Soloist, but my wife posts with me Soloist, but I believe in community Soloist, but I want God in the pilot seat
My money is on a poorly maintained vessel and and an understaffed crew. (Why were they piloting a vessel with just 2 people at 2am?)
Outsourcing, flags of convenience, and scab labour for the cheapest possible wage means stuff like this happens. Maintenance gets skipped. Corruption means maintenance records are falsified.
Boeing is currently experiencing the exact same thing.
Sept. 15, 2001: A tugboat and barge struck the Queen Isabella Causeway in Port Isabel, Texas, causing a midsection of the bridge to tumble 80 feet into the bay below. Eight people died after motorists drove into the hole.
EADS BRIDGE: 50 INJURED
April 14, 1998: The Anne Holly tow traveling through the St. Louis Harbor rammed into the center span of the Eads Bridge. Eight barges broke away. Three of them hit a permanently moored gambling vessel below the bridge. Fifty people suffered minor injuries.
BIG BAYOU CANOT: 47 DEAD
Sept. 22, 1993: Barges being pushed by a towboat in dense fog hit and displaced the Big Bayou Canot railroad bridge near Mobile, Alabama. Minutes later, an Amtrak train with 220 people aboard reached the displaced bridge and derailed, killing 47 people and injuring 103 people.
SEEBER BRIDGE: 1 DEAD
May 28, 1993: The towboat Chris, pushing the empty hopper barge DM3021, hit a support tier of the Judge William Seeber Bridge in New Orleans. Two spans and the two-column bent collapsed onto the barge. Two cars carrying three people fell with the four-lane bridge deck into a canal. One person died and two people were seriously injured.
SUNSHINE SKYWAY BRIDGE: 35 DEAD
May 9, 1980: The 609-foot freighter Summit Venture was navigating through the narrow, winding shipping channel of Florida’s Tampa Bay when a sudden, blinding squall knocked out the ship’s radar. The ship sheared off a support of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, dropping a 1,400-foot section of concrete roadway during the morning rush hour. Seven vehicles, including a bus with 26 aboard, fell 150 feet into the water. Thirty-five people died.
Of course none of these were 20 cars resulting in casualties. The numbers are off.
I don’t really care enough to go looking into each one of these to see if it was a foreigner or an American operating the ship. That doesn’t really matter. Accidents happen, and this one may end up not being the pilots fault after investigation.
The trip out of Baltimore is a pilotage area. A bay pilot was on board and directing the ship. This is required for all vessels over a certain weight. The ship's master or some other qualified officer would be on the bridge as well. He would on necessity be an American, and a very highly paid one at that. Vessel was nearly new. This was not a rust bucket, as the "El Faro" that was tied up here for awhile.
Lights of ship were going on and off prior to accident, suspicion is pointing to mechanical failure. Interestingly enough, that crossing was originally proposed and. bid out as a tunnel. Costs ran to high so they switched it for a bridge.
If a nearly new ship has a catastrophic failure like this. That doesn’t speak very well of new things built by the lowest bidder… much like Boeing airplanes. With software outsourced for $9/hr and a third party contracted that forgot to tighten bolts, so doors fly off midair.
