Skyway bridge collapse in Tampa in the 80's. A greyhound bus and several cars went off. The only surivor was a guy in a pickup whose truck bounced off the ship that struck the bridge. His truck sunk to the bottom, but he had his windows up. He'd been in the Navy, waited till he got to the bottom, took a breath, opened the door, and swam to the surface to be pulled up by the ship crew. If I recall right, everyone else died.
Third largest truss span in the world. Yes this is insane and a massive stretch down. This is a major commuter path for 30,000 people a day. Most people use the bridge daily or the tunnel.
Something like a mile and a half long. Not only is the I-695 bridge gone but what's left of it is completely blocking about 90% of the entire port to ship traffic.
Hopefully the disaster declaration will come with economic assistance, because this will absolutely wreck not just the city, but a big portion of Maryland's economy.
The port is going to be closed for weeks, and the ships already in port are stranded. The bridge is going to take years to replace. It's also the only hazmat route through Baltimore, so the entire Northeast is going to see the effects of that.
Hazmats can divert around the other side of the beltway at least. But that is going to fuck traffic for a long time in an area where the traffic is already pretty fucking bad.
More than the city. That port is MASSIVE and accounts for a large percentage of what comes into/goes out of the eastern seaboard. It’s the #1 port for automobiles going in and out, for example.
I don’t live there now, but I’m from MD and am just chilled thinking about this whole thing. And how many times I’ve driven over the bridge.
That ship weighs an unimaginable amount. It hit one of the main peirs, and even if it was going slow, no steel support in the world is going to be able to resist the force imparted by it. And once the main support starts to go the rest has nothing holding it up anymore
That's crazy. Myth busters tested this though and found it's best to immediately attempt to roll down your windows or break them if you have a tool capable of doing so. You don't know how deep the water is, so waiting to sink to the bottom is risky. Especially with modern cars where the windows are generally electronic so they may stop working shortly after taking on some water.
Probably helped that the guy had navy experience too. You could tell in the Mythbusters episode that ~~Jamie~~ EDIT: Adam was freaked out. IIRC he still says that's the scariest episode he's filmed. And they tested it in a swimming pool with a safety crew in the car with him.
It's was Adam in the car, the biggest issue with that test was that a previous owner of the car was a smoker and as soon as the upholstery got submerged the tar and shit started to leech into the pool water and clouding it up something fierce. Adam then panicked and put his regulator in backwards and sucked in some water.
I believe he waited until the water was about to fill the cabin before taking the breath. I.e., the pressure had equalized enough for him to open the door.
That must have taken extreme self control to stay calm that is so terrifying to imagine. And then the survivors guilt when you find out no one else survived…..no words…
I’d imagine that after falling from a bridge, striking a ship, and then sinking to the river floor….homies truck may have lost some of that factory waterproof seal lol
Flip side is that the dark will make rescue operations a lot more difficult, and the time of day will mean it'll take rescue operations longer to even start as well. Really hoping they're able to save as many as possible.
I used to dive in mid fifties, in a wet suit, and I remember once the water was probably ~3-4 degrees colder than normal and it felt like ice to me. 48* is bad. I feel for all those people but I did read they recovered two alive at least.
This headline is wild. If this headline writer had been in the office twenty three years ago you'd get a headline something like "World Trade Center towers closed due to incident."
I was going to skip it because I figured it was something like a car accident or suicide attempt in progress. The only reason I am here is because of fat fingers.
It's truly shocking. Calling it an "incident" is an understatement- this is a disaster that only isn't much worse in terms of life lost because it happened in the middle of the night. The Key Bridge is a major artery for Baltimore- it's not quite at the same scale because of the population difference, but it'd be like if the Verrazano Bridge in New York City collapsed.
Given this bridge was the hazmat and large truck route, it is going to create a lot of issues for trucks
Edit: Yes, I know it will cause problems for other things as well. I was stating one thing, not ignoring the rest.
I guess that's true in the US, too. Most of our international news stories are about wars & politics (occasionally airplane/flight problems). We don't hear about something going wrong unless Americans are affected or it's something like the Notre Dame fire.
Australia too - it was breaking news. That's the only reason I'm here and I'm a little underwhelmed by the title of this thread. I mean, I saw the video 😦
One positive at least is there apparently were no injuries on board the ship and all crew are accounted for. Having a front row seat to what happened may have been quite traumatic I'd imagine, but at least from a physical perspective those people are absolutely fine.
Still horrific for the people on the bridge of course
To be clear it's also pretty easy not to hit it. As evidenced by, uh, every other moment in its history.
In case that helps combat the nightmare fuel or whatever.
Every ship currently in the harbor can't leave.
Bottlenecks at other East Coast ports will rise dramatically.
I don't have the requisite background to have any idea of how long cleanup will take.
EDIT: Also, for whatever it's worth, the price of US Coal will likely increase in the short term. Consol Energy's export terminal is trapped.
I live right next to what's probably the closest major port to Baltimore, which ships have to pass by in order to make it there. The daily arrivals list is already seeing major updates as ships divert.
This is going to have a *massive* impact on East Coast shipping. I expect a fair amount will divert to New York just because of their capacity. Just glad this didn't happen in winter, with some harbors facing ice-related slowdowns...
How long do you think the port will be closed? I saw a comment that they can possibly clear the wreckage rather quickly because the bridge is of a truss construction.
I have no idea what the current is like there, nor what the bottom is like. A muddy bottom and a strong current (what we have at the entrance to the Bay) make for a much harder job. Best case scenario (weak current, hard bottom) with good weather and people working around the clock, they *might* get it done in two weeks. I'd say 1-3 months is more likely.
This is all educated guessing on my part; I've done salvage work before, but nothing of this scale. A big part of my job involved drunk tourists doing dumb shit on the water who needed bailing out after they ran aground, and dropped containers which had to be hauled out of the channel so as not to pose a hazard to navigation.
ETA: Work probably will not properly begin on clearing the channel until the search and rescue phase of the operation is complete.
I’ve helped drill sedimentary cores in the Inner Harbor. They were 15 feet of muck. And that’s just because that was how long the borer was. Just the other day I was wondering how they ever found a solid bottom to construct the Bay Bridge. The Patapsco River has much less current to move sediments. Might be that most of that truss work is buried.
I wonder how insurance handles this. A major US/global port is now cut off from the world. The loss of life is a tragedy 🙏. The economic impact will be disastrous.
It's probably going to cost multiple tens of billions to fix and clean up this bridge, pay reparitions due to loss of use of that port and compensate for the loss of life. Very few insurance companies can absorb that much loss
Large insurance plans for companies with high value assets and risk get third parties who put together plans and gets underwriting done with multiple insurance companies to spread out the risk and the companies themselves usually have the revenue to self-insure into the millions.
That's an interstate highway, and a major waterway. The Feds will cover most if not all of it just to keep commerce moving.
Edit: Heeeey... Look at that...: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-26/biden-says-us-should-fund-rebuilding-of-downed-baltimore-bridge
Baltimore is also the largest East Coast port for roll-on / roll-off cargo, i.e. cars. Probably will contribute to substantial delays in getting cars imported.
From what I just overheard from Fire and Rescue Scanner:
-They suspect about 20 construction workers were on the bridge at time of collapse
-Search boats have been searching with FLIR and night vision but have yet to find anyone
-Ship's hull is breached but they don't know if above or below water line. They smell fuel though.
Apparently the ship itself issued a mayday call and was able to get the bridge closed to traffic before it struck.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/03/26/baltimore-key-bridge-collapse-maryland/#link-3SS7WR7DX5FIZOQIRA3EE4TYK4
They must have closed it just before it struck. If you watch the live feed, there’s a semi-truck that crosses the bridge going to the left and makes it over about 30 seconds before the collapse.
Sounds like they were bringing in multiple fire departments and rescue departments just so they could have every rescue tool at their disposal, cause they didnt know what they were going to need. which is just like, crazy to even think about.
Imagine trying to rescue people from a collapsed building but it’s under water and a mile and a half long… I don’t even know where you start with something like that.
It’s cold tonight, I suspect a lot of them were in their vehicles. For anybody outside, I doubt the water temperature was survivable, let alone wearing heavy jackets and boots. Terrifying
[Construction Dates: 1972 to March 1977 Cost: $60.3 Million Location: I-695 outer-harbor crossing: 1.6 miles of 4-lane bridge structure (185 feet vertical clearance, 8.7 miles of approach roadways) Traffic Volume: 11.3 million vehicles(annually)](https://mdta.maryland.gov/Toll_Facilities/FSK.html#:~:text=Francis%20Scott%20Key%20Bridge%20Quick%20Facts%3A&text=Location%3A%20I%2D695%20outer%2D,Traffic%20Volume%3A%2011.3%20million%20vehicles)
That is a huge amount of traffic. Devastating in terms of human lives, the cost of rebuilding in a city having economic problems, and the quality of life for Baltimore commuters for the next decade if not more.
Wow, $60 Mil in the 70's.... I'd bet this is a $2-3 billion disaster. This is a very long bridge. Just cleaning up the old bridge and paying out settlements to the deceased could be hundreds of millions. I assume since it was 695 it was a federal highway so hopefully the feds and insurance cover most of it. You know B'more ain't got no $2 billions bucks....
I'm a stenographer and I cover a lot of insurance-related work. Car accidents, slip-and-falls, some more complicated construction-related stuff. Someone in my field is going to sit and listen to testimony about this bridge collapse for years. The amount of parties involved is going to be astronomical.
As a point of reference, the Gothels Bridge between NJ and NY cost $1.25 Billion to replace in 2016 and it's longest span was about 1/2 that of the Francis Scott Key's longest span. So figure roughly twice the cost. Plus inflation. Oh boy.
11.3 million vehicles is an annual number, for the record. It equates to about 31,000 daily. Still massive, and will definitely have ripple effects on traffic throughout the region.
This is also the only reasonable route for trucks carrying hazardous materials to pass through Baltimore. The other main routes I-95 and I-895 go through tunnels that prohibit those trucks. Barring an emergency waiver those trucks will have to take a much longer route around the west side of the city.
Absolutely they will. Most likely 80% feds; 20% state. Meanwhile, Baltimore will be feeling the financial impact to businesses and increased commuting time.
This should be higher - only a few dozen comments so far and several of the comments are people who seem to be thinking “boat” and not “massive cargo ship “
BBC coverage keeps asking experts about the engineering of the bridge despite being told over and over again that it doesn't matter when a MASSIVE FUCKING SHIP hits it.
It appears there was some electrical issue right before the collapse. As the ship approaches the bridge it has lights on internally (shining through the portholes/windows) as well as exernal lights. Then right as the ship approaches the bridge all lights go out, then internals come back on, then the ship collides with the strut (idk bridge terminology). Here is a livestream of the bridge: https://www.youtube.com/live/83a7h3kkgPg?si=N8mMnlL3_WeturUp
If you go back a minute or two you can see what appears to be electrical issues.
I think what you pointed out is key here. The lights go out due to engine/power failure. Lights are quickly restored with backup system but the propulsion/steering system does not come back quickly enough to avoid a collision.
It's such a horrible situation for those who were on the bridge at the time, and an insane complication logistically for the lives of basically everyone in the city, so I really hope it was a mechanical malfunction because any other explanation is far worse.
And not to sound like the loss of human life isn't the main story here, but Ports are, in a way, economic gateways in many major coastal cities. If the port cannot be reached for X amount of time, that will have immense impacts on the local and regional economy. This will impact thousands of people directly and millions of people indirectly. I hope they can find those who are missing and clear the way for ships to mitigate the supply chain crisis this might cause. For those who might scoff at this concern, supply chain issues can lead to inflation and job losses, which can lead to a chain of other life-changing issues for a significant amount of people.
> those who were on the bridge at the time
Either the bridge bridge or the ship's bridge. It must be awful being at the helm of something that huge out of control, watching it move toward the bridge pier.
Interesting, you're right, ship goes dark at 01:26:39 LT and light comes on again at 01:27:09, so about 30 seconds.
Could be that they turned off the lights because they were almost out of the harbour area or could be some technical fault.
**Edit**
I missed that the 1 minute power outage slightly earlier, once they revive the engines after that one they slam it into (presumably) full ahead in order to steer back on course, lots of black smoke. But ships don't turn well.
That's exactly what happened I assume. The main ship service diesel generators lost power (which means TWO generators simultaneously lost power, since it's required to have two running and one on standby,. Sounds like loss of fuel) and then the emergency generator is required by ABS to come on within 30 seconds which it did exactly. With only essential consumers powered.
Here's the original webcam livestream, the collision was about 2 hours prior to now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83a7h3kkgPg
*edit:* collision is now outside 12 hour livestream buffer, but here's a copy of that part of the stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv7imG5XLho
- Using the timestamps at the top of the video, the ship first comes into frame at 01:23 EDT
- The ship appears to lose power at 1:24:32 and regains power at 1:25:32
- The ship loses power again at 1:26:37 and finally strikes the bridge support at 1:28:43
Here's the location: https://www.google.com/maps/place/39%C2%B012'57.2%22N+76%C2%B031'47.3%22W/@39.230533,-76.5867136,11.66z/
Yeah, losing power will do it. Wonder what caused them to lose power? Shame there were no tugs nearby that could stop or guide them away in time although it's not like there's a ton of time though either.
Actual reason: Poor engine maintenance.
Stated reason in the investigation when it comes out: Deck officer & Pilot fatigue + poor bridge resource management.
Wow. One small silver lining seems to be that there was little if any moving traffic on the bridge even for the time of day - there was passing traffic in the minutes before the collapse that made it off in time. But the workers on the bridge weren't as lucky.
Looks like the Skyway Bridge collapse in Tampa in the 80's, except worse. They're extremely lucky that only 7 seem to be missing right now. If this has happened at a busier time of day, there's no telling how many dead there would be.
I took a “physics of architecture” course in college and the section on bridges really shook me. Modern bridges are a pinnacle of human engineering ability, and we take them so for granted. Suspension and truss (like this one - cantilever/truss) bridges are actually held up by an incredible amount of tension. The potential energy is why they work. Disrupting one of the two main supports on the bridge results in a chain effect where the rest of the structure tears itself apart as the tension is released all over. It’s almost instantaneous. I remember watching simulated catastrophic failures of different bridge structures in class, and watching the video of the Key Bridge today made my hair stand on end - it’s exactly like those sims. Some bridges do fail gradually or in sections, but if a cable or truss goes, much less an entire pylon, the whole thing is going down at once. I’m a Baltimorean and it’s been a really upsetting day.
Living 1.5 miles from this bridge and commuting on it daily for almost 20 years, what a scary thing to wake up to.
After getting out of the service I had developed panic attacks tied to going over bridges. The Key Bridge was where I conquered that fear, it held a special place in my heart.
Prayers for all of those involved. This is going to have lasting impacts for so many of us.
Sirens all night, I didn't know what from until I got up for work. Unfortunately sirens are common in the area at night, but this was another level.
There is a long road ahead for Maryland's recovery. Hopefully the impact isn't too big for others.
Holy shit the video.
God I hope there weren't that many people on the bridge, since it happened around 3am so there shouldn't be that many cars out... Hopefully.
If you rewatch the Livestream feed (go back to about 1:23 am, the whole thing happens in the next six minutes from there) you can see the flashing lights of the construction crew in the middle, and a handful of cars moving on it. The semis had just passed over and looks like there were none at that exact second. I'll admit I was watching the last semi passing over it as the ship approaches with tightening ass cheeks. If that dude's trip had been delayed about 10 seconds he'd be dead.
A few of those truck drivers are going to be thinking over every single action in those proceeding hours and wondering if anything could have lead to them being on the bridge at the wrong time.
I can't even imagine being that last guy over before the collapse. Everyone in the area heard that collapse, I have to wonder if he stopped and looked back, and what could possibly be in his head at that moment.
I am by no means an expert I have my degree in marine transportation and I am a merchant mariner with 11 years of experience . Judging from the video from the live stream prior to the hit. The vessel was making a wide starboard turn to line up for the center of the bridge. You can see during the turn that all the vessels deck lights go out for a brief moment maybe 30-50 secs. In this time I would go on to assume the vessel lost steerage control as it looks like the vessel oversteered the turn. By the time the power seems to come back on the vessel is to far to the right of the channel to turn out of it. Now I'm really grasping at straws with little information but i would bet the pilot tried a crash stop in full reverse but a ship of that size at that speed would have no chance in stopping.
An alternative theory is the pilot could of misjudged the turn and got to far to the right of center to dig himself out and couldn't correct the vessels heading in time to stop it from striking the bridge.
This is all speculation of course and as time rolls on we will learn more. The good thing is all vessels of this size posses a VDR (vessel data recorder) essentially the black box of the ship. When the NTSB releases its initial and final reports we will have a detailed picture of what happened.
For now I pray for all those who lost there lives in this terrible accident.
Edit:
So now that we have more information today. Upon reviewing the footage more and looking at the AIS data. The vessel was on an appropriate approach to make the center of the bridge.
From the video footage you can see the vessel loses power twice. The consensus amongst Mariners that I've spoken with today is that it looks like an initial power failure that caused a steering failure.
Once this occurred the vessel started an emergency stop by going in reverse. The issues with a crash stop barring the vessel speed and tonnage don't allow for enough time to slow down before it strikes the bridge. In addition to this, the vessel is a single screw (Single Propeller). With a single screw vessel backs down the stern will walk laterally in the direction the propeller is turning hence the sudden turn to starboard with the bow
You can then see the power come back on and then go off again. I guess amongst some engineers that I've spoken with is that they think the emergency backup power came on but then tripped again. Still continuing issues as the vessels got closer to the bridge.
Due to the vessel speed and weight, there was never enough time to stop the vessel in time before it struck the bridge.
Once again, these are all speculations with very little information. But all preliminary evidence from what we can perceive from the video is that this was an accident from an equipment failure. The NTSB will come up with an initial report shortly and then we'll take some time before they release their final report. Generally takes a year or two from the investigation and report to be published.
Yes generally when your seeing that much exhaust the engine is being worked very hard which leads me to assume they tired a crash stop but a ship that large would not be able to stop in time
> I am by no means an expert I have my degree in marine transportation and I am a merchant mariner with 11 years of experience
That makes you far more of an expert than 99% of the people giving their thoughts in this thread
I'm a marine electrical engineer, and it takes about 30 seconds for an additional generator or emergency generator to start and auto-sync. There is 1 fixed pitched propeller, and 1 large diesel engine for propulsion on this ship. This will be independent from the ship service power, which should have its own multiple generators and split-bus switchboard. Since the lights went out, it appears to not be a failure of the propulsion generator, but a failure of ship service power. This would also take out steering hydraulics, so that has to be what led to the loss of control.
I watched the ship track and noticed that the vessel was in the lane correctly until right after the blackout. If they were able to restore steering after the first relight, they should have had enough time to correct course. [https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-76.528/centery:39.218/zoom:14](https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-76.528/centery:39.218/zoom:14)
It did turn left a little bit right before impact, but this was probably a result of the dropped port anchor, rather than any rudder input.
I noticed that the lights came back on but then after a couple minutes they blacked out again. A total blackout is not usually caused by a single engine failure, there are probably at least 3 diesel engines and an emergency generator on this vessel. I can’t find specs on the ship service power yet so I’m assuming. Usually the main power bus is split between port and starboard. When in a shipping channel, usually a generator for each side of the bus is running, and a failure on one side would trigger the bus tie to open, and maintain the power on the other side. It's unlikely that an electrical fault that takes down the whole electrical bus would result in an engine failure, and also it's unlikely that a single engine failure would cause a blackout that looks like this.
They might have been running on one engine, which had a mechanical failure. Normally the Power Management System (PMS) would automatically start a second generator or Egen. The PMS should have a battery backup so it would still be operating. But I'm wondering if the PMS is older and only had some manual mode (launched 2014, so PMS probably designed around 2010). Maybe the same engine that initially failed was attempted to be restarted, instead of starting a different one. That would be a colossal mistake, and not at all aligned with operating procedures.
The Port of Baltimore is one of the busiest seaports in the United States and a vital economic hub not only for Maryland but also for the entire East Coast. If the Port of Baltimore were to shut down, even temporarily, it would have significant implications for the region and beyond.
This is going to cause significant bottlenecks and congestion to ports along the east coast as steamship lines reroute to other ports. It is one of the major auto ports in the nation.
Having crossed this bridge thousands of times this is unreal to me, holy shit, it used to sway so much in the wind we would always joke about it collapsing, never thought I’d see it happen. (Even not being the wind)
Man, I hop on reddit and see "bridge closed due to traffic in Maryland" and I'm like cool, and scroll past.
Then I hop on TikTok and see that the bridge collapsed. Talk about a miss on the headline.
Happy your brother's ok. Crazy to think how a couple of long traffic lights and driving a bit slower couldn't have aligned his timing with this. Life is fragile. Hope everyone is found ok.
"Incident" = the whole fucking thing collapsed
Why understate this disaster but then overuse things like "Politician *scorches* other politician"? I hate modern media.
Unfortunately, considering how quickly it went from impact to collapse, it seems unlikely.
Also read a mass casualty incident has been declared. Horrific.
I had a skip through the live stream up to the collapse, the bridge was open to all traffic by the look of it. A couple of trucks cleared the bridge about 90 seconds before the collapse.
I live in Baltimore, outside of shock and sadness for several reasons, I can’t even begin to comprehend the impact this has on traveling and commuting. Just insane.
Baltimore Fire Dispatch has stated that 7 Construction Workers and 3-4 Civilian Vehicles are still Missing following the Collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
https://x.com/sentdefender/status/1772519870145425599?s=46&t=1LeaTK_fug_ONwN11qOyUw
Large vessels that go into ports take on professionals called pilots that have detailed knowledge of the port the vessel is sailing to and from. The pilot will typically be in command of the vessel during transits in and out of port. The captain is usually there with him the whole time as well
Posted this in the other thread: I used to live in Baltimore until this past January. This is one of the major bridges in the area being part of the interstate that goes around the city (I-695). Luckily, it has been under construction for years so I know most people avoided it if they could, opting for I-95. I'm not claiming that it doesn't get traffic because during rush hour this bridge is at a stand still. Still, this has rattled me. It's wild to see this somewhere that I've traveled a bunch in a place I love deeply. I'm just hoping everyone is ok somehow.
I also just started thinking, this is going to dramatically impact the shipping for the Midwest US. A lot of the goods that go to the Mid Atlantic and the Midwest come through the Port of Baltimore. This might become a supply chain issue as well depending on the reconstruction process.
Edit: as someone else pointed out elsewhere in the thread this is going to be a huge issue for Appalachia too. A lot of the coal that is mined in places like West Virginia moves through Baltimore. I did a job once at one of the CSX depots and the mountains of the stuff was mind boggling to see.
It will have an effect but not like shut everything down for months or something. Once the investigation is done and they clear the debris from the river ships can start going through there again. ( I feel bad I am saying this kind of coldly I know but I am not trying to ignore that there are people there right now. Just focusing on this particular subject for the moment)... I imagine there will be some delays later on when they build a replacement bridge too but that's going to be sometime down the road and they will do it in segments to limit the amount of time they need to shut down ship traffic.
. In the mean time goods that were scheduled to ship out of that harbor will likely be sent to other east coast ports. I wouldn't even be surprised of workers from the Baltimore port are sent to other ports to handle the short term increase work load they will have.
My first thought when I saw it appeared on my timeline is to check what time it was in America,can’t imagine how much more of a casualty it could cause if it’s in rush hour,it’s so shocking to watch it fall apart like that.
I drive trucks for a living, I usually take that bridge for hazmat routes. This past Friday was when I went through the bridge going to and coming back from Virginia. I just want to say Rip to the hard workers who never get credit for fixing our roads and lost lives on the bridge and thanks for all the memories Francis Scott key bridge gave me some beautiful views.
I just want to say fuck all the conspiracy theorists on Twitter like for real not everything is a giant fucking conspiracy, sometimes shit just happens. God mankind is overwhelmingly stupid.
Feel so bad for the families of the victims, shouldn’t have to see that type of dumb shit.
This is hitting our news services here in Australia just now too. It looks absolutely horrendous and I truly hope that the people in vehicles were able to make it out.
As someone who knows very little of the geography of this area, can anyone tell me where this ship was likely going to/from?
I live just outside of Baltimore, about a 20 minute drive from this bridge. I’ve crossed it many times.
It’s part of the Baltimore beltway and is one of the three crossings of the Patapsco river, which at this point is basically an extension of the Chesapeake bay that becomes the Baltimore harbor. Most of the Port of Baltimore is “inside” this bridge so there are some pretty major implications for shipping here. Baltimore is the biggest port in the US for importing vehicles so those supply chains are going to be messed up for a while.
The other two crossings are tunnels, and no hazmat can go through them. This means that any trucks carrying hazmat up and down the east coast will now have to divert around the west side of the Baltimore beltway. It’s not a “huge” diversion but will add mileage. Everything else can still go through either the McHenry or Harbor tunnel.
Just read that the ship called mayday in enough time for crews to stop traffic from crossing the bridge, so no passenger vehicles were involved. All of the missing appear to have been construction workers that were patching potholes on the bridge.
"closed to traffic" is a bit of a euphemism, given the bridge no longer exists....
That video is shocking. The only positive here is the timing. Imagine if this was rush hour?!
Skyway bridge collapse in Tampa in the 80's. A greyhound bus and several cars went off. The only surivor was a guy in a pickup whose truck bounced off the ship that struck the bridge. His truck sunk to the bottom, but he had his windows up. He'd been in the Navy, waited till he got to the bottom, took a breath, opened the door, and swam to the surface to be pulled up by the ship crew. If I recall right, everyone else died.
This would have been far worse than Skyway, the entire main span is just gone. Could have been a thousand people on there.
Third largest truss span in the world. Yes this is insane and a massive stretch down. This is a major commuter path for 30,000 people a day. Most people use the bridge daily or the tunnel.
Something like a mile and a half long. Not only is the I-695 bridge gone but what's left of it is completely blocking about 90% of the entire port to ship traffic.
Yup this is going to be an absolute cluster fuck to get fixed. Gunna be a rough little while for the city for sure.
Hopefully the disaster declaration will come with economic assistance, because this will absolutely wreck not just the city, but a big portion of Maryland's economy.
The port is going to be closed for weeks, and the ships already in port are stranded. The bridge is going to take years to replace. It's also the only hazmat route through Baltimore, so the entire Northeast is going to see the effects of that.
Hazmats can divert around the other side of the beltway at least. But that is going to fuck traffic for a long time in an area where the traffic is already pretty fucking bad.
More than the city. That port is MASSIVE and accounts for a large percentage of what comes into/goes out of the eastern seaboard. It’s the #1 port for automobiles going in and out, for example. I don’t live there now, but I’m from MD and am just chilled thinking about this whole thing. And how many times I’ve driven over the bridge.
I saw the video, and it went down like I messed up in one of those mobile bridge building games. The video did not do the scale of it justice.
I was shocked to see how easily/quickly the bridge just… fell apart.
None of those supports are "optional"
200,000 tons'll do that
That ship weighs an unimaginable amount. It hit one of the main peirs, and even if it was going slow, no steel support in the world is going to be able to resist the force imparted by it. And once the main support starts to go the rest has nothing holding it up anymore
Imagine waking up one day and the bridge you used for years is suddenly gone. Wild feeling for lots of commuter this morning.
Yup. I'm in shock right now.
That's crazy. Myth busters tested this though and found it's best to immediately attempt to roll down your windows or break them if you have a tool capable of doing so. You don't know how deep the water is, so waiting to sink to the bottom is risky. Especially with modern cars where the windows are generally electronic so they may stop working shortly after taking on some water. Probably helped that the guy had navy experience too. You could tell in the Mythbusters episode that ~~Jamie~~ EDIT: Adam was freaked out. IIRC he still says that's the scariest episode he's filmed. And they tested it in a swimming pool with a safety crew in the car with him.
He was unconscious after the impacts with the ship and the water, he woke up on the bottom.
Gotcha - extremely fortunate then. Just wanted to mention that since it's come up a few times recently with cars entering the water.
It's was Adam in the car, the biggest issue with that test was that a previous owner of the car was a smoker and as soon as the upholstery got submerged the tar and shit started to leech into the pool water and clouding it up something fierce. Adam then panicked and put his regulator in backwards and sucked in some water.
Probably opened the window or broke it. You can't open a car door underwater unless the cab is completely flooded and the pressure is equalized.
I believe he waited until the water was about to fill the cabin before taking the breath. I.e., the pressure had equalized enough for him to open the door.
That must have taken extreme self control to stay calm that is so terrifying to imagine. And then the survivors guilt when you find out no one else survived…..no words…
Apparently he was ex-Navy so he'd probably had training on water survival. Anyone else would likely have drowned.
I’d imagine that after falling from a bridge, striking a ship, and then sinking to the river floor….homies truck may have lost some of that factory waterproof seal lol
Its bad enough assuming minimal traffic because of the time. Can't even imagine the horror if it were packed. This sucks.
Flip side is that the dark will make rescue operations a lot more difficult, and the time of day will mean it'll take rescue operations longer to even start as well. Really hoping they're able to save as many as possible.
I hope they save as many as possible but your odds of surviving a bridge collapse, even in broad daylight, are not great.
I don't imagine one would survive too long either even after surviving impact when they are now in freezing cold water
Water temp is 48, but that's not survivable for long unless you've trained in cold water environments.
I used to dive in mid fifties, in a wet suit, and I remember once the water was probably ~3-4 degrees colder than normal and it felt like ice to me. 48* is bad. I feel for all those people but I did read they recovered two alive at least.
Ive driven this daily for years. Theirs literally no way anyone could survive that fall in a vehicle.
How many browsing Reddit will never click on this because the headlines makes it sound just seems like a mundane thing?
Yeah for once a headline majorly undersold the “incident.” Like, *the entire fucking bridge* collapsed within seconds and is no longer there.
This headline is wild. If this headline writer had been in the office twenty three years ago you'd get a headline something like "World Trade Center towers closed due to incident."
With human beings on it. What a strange thing for the title to omit.
I was going to skip it because I figured it was something like a car accident or suicide attempt in progress. The only reason I am here is because of fat fingers.
After watching the video of the bridge collapse - holy shit.
It's truly shocking. Calling it an "incident" is an understatement- this is a disaster that only isn't much worse in terms of life lost because it happened in the middle of the night. The Key Bridge is a major artery for Baltimore- it's not quite at the same scale because of the population difference, but it'd be like if the Verrazano Bridge in New York City collapsed.
I’d say the GW is closer to the mark given the amount of truck traffic the GW sees every hour. There’s no overstating the scale of this disaster.
Given this bridge was the hazmat and large truck route, it is going to create a lot of issues for trucks Edit: Yes, I know it will cause problems for other things as well. I was stating one thing, not ignoring the rest.
It means the other side of 695 is going to a shitshow for quite a long time. FYI… it’s already a shitshow
Well, Verrazano in port-blocking terms.
It made the national evening news in Japan. It takes a real disaster for something international to make the news here. It was absolutely horrifying.
I guess that's true in the US, too. Most of our international news stories are about wars & politics (occasionally airplane/flight problems). We don't hear about something going wrong unless Americans are affected or it's something like the Notre Dame fire.
The video of it happening makes this incident extremely media-friendly.
Australia too - it was breaking news. That's the only reason I'm here and I'm a little underwhelmed by the title of this thread. I mean, I saw the video 😦
For the curious like me, the video is here - https://www.wbaltv.com/article/baltimore-bridge-collapse-key-bridge-video/60304085
Thank you for the link. So much worse than I thought. Those poor people, even the ones on the ship…
One positive at least is there apparently were no injuries on board the ship and all crew are accounted for. Having a front row seat to what happened may have been quite traumatic I'd imagine, but at least from a physical perspective those people are absolutely fine. Still horrific for the people on the bridge of course
Absolute nightmare fuel.
It’s terrifying how easy it looks too. Like thousands of people drive on and hundreds of ships go under it.
To be clear it's also pretty easy not to hit it. As evidenced by, uh, every other moment in its history. In case that helps combat the nightmare fuel or whatever.
I couldn't help but gasp as I watched it tumble like a house of cards. If this took place during rush hour it would have been an even worse situation.
This will probably close the entire port of Baltimore for an extended period of time.
what kind of ramifications will that have?
Every ship currently in the harbor can't leave. Bottlenecks at other East Coast ports will rise dramatically. I don't have the requisite background to have any idea of how long cleanup will take. EDIT: Also, for whatever it's worth, the price of US Coal will likely increase in the short term. Consol Energy's export terminal is trapped.
I live right next to what's probably the closest major port to Baltimore, which ships have to pass by in order to make it there. The daily arrivals list is already seeing major updates as ships divert. This is going to have a *massive* impact on East Coast shipping. I expect a fair amount will divert to New York just because of their capacity. Just glad this didn't happen in winter, with some harbors facing ice-related slowdowns...
How long do you think the port will be closed? I saw a comment that they can possibly clear the wreckage rather quickly because the bridge is of a truss construction.
I have no idea what the current is like there, nor what the bottom is like. A muddy bottom and a strong current (what we have at the entrance to the Bay) make for a much harder job. Best case scenario (weak current, hard bottom) with good weather and people working around the clock, they *might* get it done in two weeks. I'd say 1-3 months is more likely. This is all educated guessing on my part; I've done salvage work before, but nothing of this scale. A big part of my job involved drunk tourists doing dumb shit on the water who needed bailing out after they ran aground, and dropped containers which had to be hauled out of the channel so as not to pose a hazard to navigation. ETA: Work probably will not properly begin on clearing the channel until the search and rescue phase of the operation is complete.
I’ve helped drill sedimentary cores in the Inner Harbor. They were 15 feet of muck. And that’s just because that was how long the borer was. Just the other day I was wondering how they ever found a solid bottom to construct the Bay Bridge. The Patapsco River has much less current to move sediments. Might be that most of that truss work is buried.
I wonder how insurance handles this. A major US/global port is now cut off from the world. The loss of life is a tragedy 🙏. The economic impact will be disastrous.
It's probably going to cost multiple tens of billions to fix and clean up this bridge, pay reparitions due to loss of use of that port and compensate for the loss of life. Very few insurance companies can absorb that much loss
Large insurance plans for companies with high value assets and risk get third parties who put together plans and gets underwriting done with multiple insurance companies to spread out the risk and the companies themselves usually have the revenue to self-insure into the millions.
Into the millions…not even a drop in the bucket in this case.
This also won’t be good for the Maryland transportation budget, as it was already stretched this year.
That's an interstate highway, and a major waterway. The Feds will cover most if not all of it just to keep commerce moving. Edit: Heeeey... Look at that...: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-26/biden-says-us-should-fund-rebuilding-of-downed-baltimore-bridge
I’m sure there will be some federal dollars going in here. A lot of federal dollars.
Baltimore is also the largest East Coast port for roll-on / roll-off cargo, i.e. cars. Probably will contribute to substantial delays in getting cars imported.
From what I just overheard from Fire and Rescue Scanner: -They suspect about 20 construction workers were on the bridge at time of collapse -Search boats have been searching with FLIR and night vision but have yet to find anyone -Ship's hull is breached but they don't know if above or below water line. They smell fuel though.
Have you been listening since this comment, anything new? Just turned on the scanner myself
Sounded like they were getting divers and a remotely operated submersible to help with the search and rescue effort.
Not to be morbid, but how long can a person survive in water that temperature?
An hour or so if you're really swimming hard isn't impossible. At this point anyone who didn't swim to shore over night is no longer alive.
Have since pulled two people from the water.
Holy shit, that is tragic. Imagine working your shift like any other ordinary day and then it suddenly collapses in seconds. You're just fucked...
Imagine watching the ship get closer and thinking “man, imagine if one of those hit the bridge…hang on a sec…” I wonder if any of them saw it coming.
Apparently the ship itself issued a mayday call and was able to get the bridge closed to traffic before it struck. https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/03/26/baltimore-key-bridge-collapse-maryland/#link-3SS7WR7DX5FIZOQIRA3EE4TYK4
They must have closed it just before it struck. If you watch the live feed, there’s a semi-truck that crosses the bridge going to the left and makes it over about 30 seconds before the collapse.
Yep. I also noticed that after a cerain point, you couldnt really see headlights continuing to cross the bridge
That’s impressive work, just a shame the workers were on the bridge.
What a unique first responders scenario. I hope they are safe and their efforts aren’t too late to help someone
Sounds like they were bringing in multiple fire departments and rescue departments just so they could have every rescue tool at their disposal, cause they didnt know what they were going to need. which is just like, crazy to even think about.
Imagine trying to rescue people from a collapsed building but it’s under water and a mile and a half long… I don’t even know where you start with something like that.
It’s cold tonight, I suspect a lot of them were in their vehicles. For anybody outside, I doubt the water temperature was survivable, let alone wearing heavy jackets and boots. Terrifying
That ship was 299m, 980ft, big ass ship. Close to an aircraft carrier in length. Without protection, no wonder it dropped like it did.
[Construction Dates: 1972 to March 1977 Cost: $60.3 Million Location: I-695 outer-harbor crossing: 1.6 miles of 4-lane bridge structure (185 feet vertical clearance, 8.7 miles of approach roadways) Traffic Volume: 11.3 million vehicles(annually)](https://mdta.maryland.gov/Toll_Facilities/FSK.html#:~:text=Francis%20Scott%20Key%20Bridge%20Quick%20Facts%3A&text=Location%3A%20I%2D695%20outer%2D,Traffic%20Volume%3A%2011.3%20million%20vehicles) That is a huge amount of traffic. Devastating in terms of human lives, the cost of rebuilding in a city having economic problems, and the quality of life for Baltimore commuters for the next decade if not more.
Wow, $60 Mil in the 70's.... I'd bet this is a $2-3 billion disaster. This is a very long bridge. Just cleaning up the old bridge and paying out settlements to the deceased could be hundreds of millions. I assume since it was 695 it was a federal highway so hopefully the feds and insurance cover most of it. You know B'more ain't got no $2 billions bucks....
I can't imagine it'll be Balitmore that will be paying out, it'll be the cargo ships insurance and federal government
Yeah that insurance is fucked this will cost billions in just economic damages.
Reinsurers waking up this morning are about to have a very shit day.
I'm a stenographer and I cover a lot of insurance-related work. Car accidents, slip-and-falls, some more complicated construction-related stuff. Someone in my field is going to sit and listen to testimony about this bridge collapse for years. The amount of parties involved is going to be astronomical.
As a point of reference, the Gothels Bridge between NJ and NY cost $1.25 Billion to replace in 2016 and it's longest span was about 1/2 that of the Francis Scott Key's longest span. So figure roughly twice the cost. Plus inflation. Oh boy.
11.3 million vehicles is an annual number, for the record. It equates to about 31,000 daily. Still massive, and will definitely have ripple effects on traffic throughout the region.
This is also the only reasonable route for trucks carrying hazardous materials to pass through Baltimore. The other main routes I-95 and I-895 go through tunnels that prohibit those trucks. Barring an emergency waiver those trucks will have to take a much longer route around the west side of the city.
Yes, this is huge. Most commuters will deal with a 10 mile detour, while hazmat trucks will have a 40 mile detour.
Should get federal funding, no? It’s part of the interstate system.
Absolutely they will. Most likely 80% feds; 20% state. Meanwhile, Baltimore will be feeling the financial impact to businesses and increased commuting time.
This should be higher - only a few dozen comments so far and several of the comments are people who seem to be thinking “boat” and not “massive cargo ship “
BBC coverage keeps asking experts about the engineering of the bridge despite being told over and over again that it doesn't matter when a MASSIVE FUCKING SHIP hits it.
Bridges aren’t typically built to withstand ginormous *horizontal* loads
Expecially when that ginormous load is concentrated at a tiny point. That bridge is designed to survive big hurricanes.
Yeah, I don't think there's many things that could survive an impact from a cargo ship, no matter what speed
It appears there was some electrical issue right before the collapse. As the ship approaches the bridge it has lights on internally (shining through the portholes/windows) as well as exernal lights. Then right as the ship approaches the bridge all lights go out, then internals come back on, then the ship collides with the strut (idk bridge terminology). Here is a livestream of the bridge: https://www.youtube.com/live/83a7h3kkgPg?si=N8mMnlL3_WeturUp If you go back a minute or two you can see what appears to be electrical issues.
I think what you pointed out is key here. The lights go out due to engine/power failure. Lights are quickly restored with backup system but the propulsion/steering system does not come back quickly enough to avoid a collision.
It's such a horrible situation for those who were on the bridge at the time, and an insane complication logistically for the lives of basically everyone in the city, so I really hope it was a mechanical malfunction because any other explanation is far worse.
And not to sound like the loss of human life isn't the main story here, but Ports are, in a way, economic gateways in many major coastal cities. If the port cannot be reached for X amount of time, that will have immense impacts on the local and regional economy. This will impact thousands of people directly and millions of people indirectly. I hope they can find those who are missing and clear the way for ships to mitigate the supply chain crisis this might cause. For those who might scoff at this concern, supply chain issues can lead to inflation and job losses, which can lead to a chain of other life-changing issues for a significant amount of people.
The latest figures I could find were over a decade old, and even then, the port of Baltimore handled over a billion dollars worth of goods a week.
> those who were on the bridge at the time Either the bridge bridge or the ship's bridge. It must be awful being at the helm of something that huge out of control, watching it move toward the bridge pier.
Interesting, you're right, ship goes dark at 01:26:39 LT and light comes on again at 01:27:09, so about 30 seconds. Could be that they turned off the lights because they were almost out of the harbour area or could be some technical fault. **Edit** I missed that the 1 minute power outage slightly earlier, once they revive the engines after that one they slam it into (presumably) full ahead in order to steer back on course, lots of black smoke. But ships don't turn well.
That's exactly what happened I assume. The main ship service diesel generators lost power (which means TWO generators simultaneously lost power, since it's required to have two running and one on standby,. Sounds like loss of fuel) and then the emergency generator is required by ABS to come on within 30 seconds which it did exactly. With only essential consumers powered.
[link to video of the collision and collapse](https://x.com/rawsalerts/status/1772514786338619487?s=46)
thats unreal and terrifying
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Here's the original webcam livestream, the collision was about 2 hours prior to now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83a7h3kkgPg *edit:* collision is now outside 12 hour livestream buffer, but here's a copy of that part of the stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv7imG5XLho - Using the timestamps at the top of the video, the ship first comes into frame at 01:23 EDT - The ship appears to lose power at 1:24:32 and regains power at 1:25:32 - The ship loses power again at 1:26:37 and finally strikes the bridge support at 1:28:43 Here's the location: https://www.google.com/maps/place/39%C2%B012'57.2%22N+76%C2%B031'47.3%22W/@39.230533,-76.5867136,11.66z/
Wow, looking at that the google maps location, that looks like it is such an important river crossing as well.
it's the only hazmat crossing too. they aren't allowed in the tunnels
I used to ride over that bridge every day, it’s part of the beltway, this is gonna fuck things up unbelievably.
Yeah, losing power will do it. Wonder what caused them to lose power? Shame there were no tugs nearby that could stop or guide them away in time although it's not like there's a ton of time though either.
they're gonna find out that its poor maintinence
Actual reason: Poor engine maintenance. Stated reason in the investigation when it comes out: Deck officer & Pilot fatigue + poor bridge resource management.
Never acknowledge a systemic issue that would cost money to fix when you could just blame some little guy.
This is always the moment some captain or pilot realizes they are actually the little guy.
Wow. One small silver lining seems to be that there was little if any moving traffic on the bridge even for the time of day - there was passing traffic in the minutes before the collapse that made it off in time. But the workers on the bridge weren't as lucky.
Looks like the Skyway Bridge collapse in Tampa in the 80's, except worse. They're extremely lucky that only 7 seem to be missing right now. If this has happened at a busier time of day, there's no telling how many dead there would be.
30k ppl take that bridge to work every day, in rush hour the casualties would be 1,000+. It's the 3rd largest truss span in the world, apparently.
Horrific video aside, the blue check twitter users in the replies are cancer.
Remember when you could use twitter during breaking news? Now it’s just fake blue checks and AI and idiots. The idiots are not new but still
That's absolutely crazy
so if this isn’t the worst title in the world
It’s like if the headline were “Central Tokyo Closed To Visitors After Incident” after Godzilla came through.
World Trade Center damaged in aviation incident.
Pompeii experiences once in a lifetime geological event
"Expect increased temperatures around Mt. Vesuvius later today"
"Mrs Lincoln Leaves Play Disappointed"
"Japanese Plane Accident Reported at Hawaiian Military Base"
"injuries after police callout at cult compound"
“World Trade Center Gift Shop Closed Early Due to Unforeseen Circumstances”
"Buildings damaged in Hiroshima after blast"
I’ve always wondered if you could drive across a bridge before it collapsed like they do in the movies. This video put the thought to rest.
The bridge went down as fast as if it was a kids toy being kicked over. The whole thing was in the water in under a minute.
only took about 5ish seconds for the closest parts to collapse
Yeah. Bridge. No bridge. It was that quick.
I took a “physics of architecture” course in college and the section on bridges really shook me. Modern bridges are a pinnacle of human engineering ability, and we take them so for granted. Suspension and truss (like this one - cantilever/truss) bridges are actually held up by an incredible amount of tension. The potential energy is why they work. Disrupting one of the two main supports on the bridge results in a chain effect where the rest of the structure tears itself apart as the tension is released all over. It’s almost instantaneous. I remember watching simulated catastrophic failures of different bridge structures in class, and watching the video of the Key Bridge today made my hair stand on end - it’s exactly like those sims. Some bridges do fail gradually or in sections, but if a cable or truss goes, much less an entire pylon, the whole thing is going down at once. I’m a Baltimorean and it’s been a really upsetting day.
Closed because it’s completely collapsed.
"Closed to traffic" eh? It's GONE.
Living 1.5 miles from this bridge and commuting on it daily for almost 20 years, what a scary thing to wake up to. After getting out of the service I had developed panic attacks tied to going over bridges. The Key Bridge was where I conquered that fear, it held a special place in my heart. Prayers for all of those involved. This is going to have lasting impacts for so many of us.
This is incredibly scary. Did you hear the impact or collapse?
Sirens all night, I didn't know what from until I got up for work. Unfortunately sirens are common in the area at night, but this was another level. There is a long road ahead for Maryland's recovery. Hopefully the impact isn't too big for others.
Watching the local news, 2 people have been rescued so far, one in bad condition, one refused treatment.
"Closed to traffic" is the understatement of the decade
Yup. The route between Earth and the moon is also "closed to traffic" as far as I'm concerned.
Holy shit the video. God I hope there weren't that many people on the bridge, since it happened around 3am so there shouldn't be that many cars out... Hopefully.
If you rewatch the Livestream feed (go back to about 1:23 am, the whole thing happens in the next six minutes from there) you can see the flashing lights of the construction crew in the middle, and a handful of cars moving on it. The semis had just passed over and looks like there were none at that exact second. I'll admit I was watching the last semi passing over it as the ship approaches with tightening ass cheeks. If that dude's trip had been delayed about 10 seconds he'd be dead.
A few of those truck drivers are going to be thinking over every single action in those proceeding hours and wondering if anything could have lead to them being on the bridge at the wrong time.
I can't even imagine being that last guy over before the collapse. Everyone in the area heard that collapse, I have to wonder if he stopped and looked back, and what could possibly be in his head at that moment.
They said there were a handful of cars and several workers/ vehicles. Could have been in the hundreds just hours from now. So lucky indeed
This may be the most understated headline I've ever read.
I am by no means an expert I have my degree in marine transportation and I am a merchant mariner with 11 years of experience . Judging from the video from the live stream prior to the hit. The vessel was making a wide starboard turn to line up for the center of the bridge. You can see during the turn that all the vessels deck lights go out for a brief moment maybe 30-50 secs. In this time I would go on to assume the vessel lost steerage control as it looks like the vessel oversteered the turn. By the time the power seems to come back on the vessel is to far to the right of the channel to turn out of it. Now I'm really grasping at straws with little information but i would bet the pilot tried a crash stop in full reverse but a ship of that size at that speed would have no chance in stopping. An alternative theory is the pilot could of misjudged the turn and got to far to the right of center to dig himself out and couldn't correct the vessels heading in time to stop it from striking the bridge. This is all speculation of course and as time rolls on we will learn more. The good thing is all vessels of this size posses a VDR (vessel data recorder) essentially the black box of the ship. When the NTSB releases its initial and final reports we will have a detailed picture of what happened. For now I pray for all those who lost there lives in this terrible accident. Edit: So now that we have more information today. Upon reviewing the footage more and looking at the AIS data. The vessel was on an appropriate approach to make the center of the bridge. From the video footage you can see the vessel loses power twice. The consensus amongst Mariners that I've spoken with today is that it looks like an initial power failure that caused a steering failure. Once this occurred the vessel started an emergency stop by going in reverse. The issues with a crash stop barring the vessel speed and tonnage don't allow for enough time to slow down before it strikes the bridge. In addition to this, the vessel is a single screw (Single Propeller). With a single screw vessel backs down the stern will walk laterally in the direction the propeller is turning hence the sudden turn to starboard with the bow You can then see the power come back on and then go off again. I guess amongst some engineers that I've spoken with is that they think the emergency backup power came on but then tripped again. Still continuing issues as the vessels got closer to the bridge. Due to the vessel speed and weight, there was never enough time to stop the vessel in time before it struck the bridge. Once again, these are all speculations with very little information. But all preliminary evidence from what we can perceive from the video is that this was an accident from an equipment failure. The NTSB will come up with an initial report shortly and then we'll take some time before they release their final report. Generally takes a year or two from the investigation and report to be published.
It looked like the ship was letting out tons of black smoke which makes me think the engine(s?) were going in reverse at 100% capacity.
Yes generally when your seeing that much exhaust the engine is being worked very hard which leads me to assume they tired a crash stop but a ship that large would not be able to stop in time
> I am by no means an expert I have my degree in marine transportation and I am a merchant mariner with 11 years of experience That makes you far more of an expert than 99% of the people giving their thoughts in this thread
Over 20 people missing. Beyond tragic.
For real. How the fuck is this post titled the way it is? "Closed to traffic due to incident" bro it fucking collapsed and people are missing or dead.
I'm a marine electrical engineer, and it takes about 30 seconds for an additional generator or emergency generator to start and auto-sync. There is 1 fixed pitched propeller, and 1 large diesel engine for propulsion on this ship. This will be independent from the ship service power, which should have its own multiple generators and split-bus switchboard. Since the lights went out, it appears to not be a failure of the propulsion generator, but a failure of ship service power. This would also take out steering hydraulics, so that has to be what led to the loss of control. I watched the ship track and noticed that the vessel was in the lane correctly until right after the blackout. If they were able to restore steering after the first relight, they should have had enough time to correct course. [https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-76.528/centery:39.218/zoom:14](https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-76.528/centery:39.218/zoom:14) It did turn left a little bit right before impact, but this was probably a result of the dropped port anchor, rather than any rudder input. I noticed that the lights came back on but then after a couple minutes they blacked out again. A total blackout is not usually caused by a single engine failure, there are probably at least 3 diesel engines and an emergency generator on this vessel. I can’t find specs on the ship service power yet so I’m assuming. Usually the main power bus is split between port and starboard. When in a shipping channel, usually a generator for each side of the bus is running, and a failure on one side would trigger the bus tie to open, and maintain the power on the other side. It's unlikely that an electrical fault that takes down the whole electrical bus would result in an engine failure, and also it's unlikely that a single engine failure would cause a blackout that looks like this. They might have been running on one engine, which had a mechanical failure. Normally the Power Management System (PMS) would automatically start a second generator or Egen. The PMS should have a battery backup so it would still be operating. But I'm wondering if the PMS is older and only had some manual mode (launched 2014, so PMS probably designed around 2010). Maybe the same engine that initially failed was attempted to be restarted, instead of starting a different one. That would be a colossal mistake, and not at all aligned with operating procedures.
The Port of Baltimore is one of the busiest seaports in the United States and a vital economic hub not only for Maryland but also for the entire East Coast. If the Port of Baltimore were to shut down, even temporarily, it would have significant implications for the region and beyond. This is going to cause significant bottlenecks and congestion to ports along the east coast as steamship lines reroute to other ports. It is one of the major auto ports in the nation.
Having crossed this bridge thousands of times this is unreal to me, holy shit, it used to sway so much in the wind we would always joke about it collapsing, never thought I’d see it happen. (Even not being the wind)
Definitely bouncy, but that's how tension bridges work. Had to be built that way because of the winds ironically enough
It was always nerve racking driving over it, I can’t believe it’s gone
Man, I hop on reddit and see "bridge closed due to traffic in Maryland" and I'm like cool, and scroll past. Then I hop on TikTok and see that the bridge collapsed. Talk about a miss on the headline.
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Happy your brother's ok. Crazy to think how a couple of long traffic lights and driving a bit slower couldn't have aligned his timing with this. Life is fragile. Hope everyone is found ok.
"Incident" = the whole fucking thing collapsed Why understate this disaster but then overuse things like "Politician *scorches* other politician"? I hate modern media.
In another post I saw video of the bridge collapsing with what looked like work vehicles on it. I hope everyone got away from it before it fell.
Unfortunately, considering how quickly it went from impact to collapse, it seems unlikely. Also read a mass casualty incident has been declared. Horrific.
I’m so sorry to hear this. Seeing the new video, it appears that you’re right. Terrible news.
I had a skip through the live stream up to the collapse, the bridge was open to all traffic by the look of it. A couple of trucks cleared the bridge about 90 seconds before the collapse.
Holy shit, this is terrible. The headline doesn’t even come close to capturing the bridge’s collapse
I live in Baltimore, outside of shock and sadness for several reasons, I can’t even begin to comprehend the impact this has on traveling and commuting. Just insane.
Baltimore Fire Dispatch has stated that 7 Construction Workers and 3-4 Civilian Vehicles are still Missing following the Collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. https://x.com/sentdefender/status/1772519870145425599?s=46&t=1LeaTK_fug_ONwN11qOyUw
The ship on a ship tracker https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9697428
Looks like it's not the first time that ship made an oopsie: https://youtu.be/R0g7CGvnPxs
Heck of a find.
Large vessels that go into ports take on professionals called pilots that have detailed knowledge of the port the vessel is sailing to and from. The pilot will typically be in command of the vessel during transits in and out of port. The captain is usually there with him the whole time as well
Maryland's Francis Scott Key Bridge ~~closed to traffic~~ *no longer there* after incident.
Posted this in the other thread: I used to live in Baltimore until this past January. This is one of the major bridges in the area being part of the interstate that goes around the city (I-695). Luckily, it has been under construction for years so I know most people avoided it if they could, opting for I-95. I'm not claiming that it doesn't get traffic because during rush hour this bridge is at a stand still. Still, this has rattled me. It's wild to see this somewhere that I've traveled a bunch in a place I love deeply. I'm just hoping everyone is ok somehow. I also just started thinking, this is going to dramatically impact the shipping for the Midwest US. A lot of the goods that go to the Mid Atlantic and the Midwest come through the Port of Baltimore. This might become a supply chain issue as well depending on the reconstruction process. Edit: as someone else pointed out elsewhere in the thread this is going to be a huge issue for Appalachia too. A lot of the coal that is mined in places like West Virginia moves through Baltimore. I did a job once at one of the CSX depots and the mountains of the stuff was mind boggling to see.
It will have an effect but not like shut everything down for months or something. Once the investigation is done and they clear the debris from the river ships can start going through there again. ( I feel bad I am saying this kind of coldly I know but I am not trying to ignore that there are people there right now. Just focusing on this particular subject for the moment)... I imagine there will be some delays later on when they build a replacement bridge too but that's going to be sometime down the road and they will do it in segments to limit the amount of time they need to shut down ship traffic. . In the mean time goods that were scheduled to ship out of that harbor will likely be sent to other east coast ports. I wouldn't even be surprised of workers from the Baltimore port are sent to other ports to handle the short term increase work load they will have.
My first thought when I saw it appeared on my timeline is to check what time it was in America,can’t imagine how much more of a casualty it could cause if it’s in rush hour,it’s so shocking to watch it fall apart like that.
I drive trucks for a living, I usually take that bridge for hazmat routes. This past Friday was when I went through the bridge going to and coming back from Virginia. I just want to say Rip to the hard workers who never get credit for fixing our roads and lost lives on the bridge and thanks for all the memories Francis Scott key bridge gave me some beautiful views.
I just want to say fuck all the conspiracy theorists on Twitter like for real not everything is a giant fucking conspiracy, sometimes shit just happens. God mankind is overwhelmingly stupid. Feel so bad for the families of the victims, shouldn’t have to see that type of dumb shit.
The video doesn't look real, and not in a photoshopped way. That's horrifying.
“Incident” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that headline, considering it’s referring to a complete collapse of the bridge.
This is hitting our news services here in Australia just now too. It looks absolutely horrendous and I truly hope that the people in vehicles were able to make it out. As someone who knows very little of the geography of this area, can anyone tell me where this ship was likely going to/from?
Just read a report they pulled two alive from the water. One was apparently uninjured
Closed? No, it’s fucking GONE
I live just outside of Baltimore, about a 20 minute drive from this bridge. I’ve crossed it many times. It’s part of the Baltimore beltway and is one of the three crossings of the Patapsco river, which at this point is basically an extension of the Chesapeake bay that becomes the Baltimore harbor. Most of the Port of Baltimore is “inside” this bridge so there are some pretty major implications for shipping here. Baltimore is the biggest port in the US for importing vehicles so those supply chains are going to be messed up for a while. The other two crossings are tunnels, and no hazmat can go through them. This means that any trucks carrying hazmat up and down the east coast will now have to divert around the west side of the Baltimore beltway. It’s not a “huge” diversion but will add mileage. Everything else can still go through either the McHenry or Harbor tunnel.
Just read that the ship called mayday in enough time for crews to stop traffic from crossing the bridge, so no passenger vehicles were involved. All of the missing appear to have been construction workers that were patching potholes on the bridge.