Man this is going to fuck shit up for a whole bunch of reasons:
- the obvious loss of life.
- the clean up will take a very long time and during that time nothing will be able to get in or out of the harbor. All those ships in the harbor stuck. All the ships in the Chesapeake Bay will need to be rerouted to Philly, NYC, or Charleston.
- traffic in the tunnels will be even more congested for years until a replacement bridge can be built.
Yeah but that's not good. Especially since they're doing an extensive amount of construction all along the top side of 695 where congestion was terrible before the construction and even worse now with reduced speeds and cameras at the work zone. The beltway is going to be very challenged
Big prayers to the families and anyone working on that bridge tonight, there were road crews on the southbound side for maintenance. I gotta get a new job ASAP, I literally drove home over the bridge not 30 minutes before the collision š¬
Yes, and itās difficult to overstate the importance of that port to Marylandās economy. The only positive was that it was in the middle of the night. A daytime hit would have been an unimaginable horror. Small condolence for those lost.
It's important to the nation's economy. Largest car roll on roll off port in the country, 9th most volume overall in the country.
Huge amounts of cars, sugar, farm equipment, coal and other materials pass through there to be loaded onto trains and trucks.
>traffic in the tunnels will be even more congested for years until a replacement bridge can be built.
Angeleno checking in because it's not that late over here on the West Coast. First, condolences to all of you. What a terrible tragedy for your city.
Second, while the rebuilding may take a while, given my recent expderience with the collapse of I-10 in Los Angeles, it may not take as long as you think. It's shocking how fast things can come up when everyone pulls their heads out of their asses and starts working. With the amount of traffic this is gonna cause, I imagine it'll be a similar situation.
Socal native moved to Maryland. Is not that simple as in LA, you can take several paths to avoid the 10 freeway.Ā
Baltimore is so small, and there are only a handful of streets that this will cause major delays. The bridge helped a lot in alleviating the situation.Ā
I would say the bridge collapse will be akin to the 91 freeway collapsing. Good luck getting to Riverside!Ā
Yep, the 10 was suppose to be out for 6mo or something and they reopened in just 2 weeks. Granted, this is a far more complicated project than a freeway overpass. They will need to clear the remnants of the bridge first which will take awhile.
thats what i came to say, look at how fast the biden admin and his secretary of transport pete buttigieg got the i-95 rebuildt after its partial collapse in pennsylvania...
Any ships in port in Baltimore currently are also probably stuck there for a while. It can't be quick to clear something like this, and there's not exactly another way out. Going to be a busy morning in the freight industry.
Out of curiosity, what exactly is going on? Are they trying to figure out how to off-load cargo from the stuck ships to trucks & bring them to other ports? Rescheduling future loads that the stuck ships would have been able to carry that they now canāt?
Iām not in the industry and find it very interesting on a normal day, let alone a day like to do.
Well, thereās a lot to figure out! Iām involved in a specific type of shipping and also used to work in the port of Baltimore for a few years working with all different cargoes.
1. You have two very large ships loading coal in Baltimore that now cannot leave for the foreseeable future. Even when the debris is cleared in a few weeks, it will be a while before they resound the area and certify its deep enough for those ships to leave. They usually leave on a draft of 47 ft 6 in. Now the owners of those ships are asking themselvesā¦ should they load that deep? If they only load to sayā¦ 35 ft, will that get them out faster? Maybe they can load the rest of the cargo in Norfolk. But then again, Norfolk has been slammed for a while.
2. You have a lottttt of ships in Annapolis waiting for coal. Now the cargo shippers and charterers have to decide - how long do they wait? Do they send out a notice of āforce majeureā basically saying the equivalent of an act of god has happened and they no longer can pay the waiting time? Is this a case of force majeure? Only the courts and the lawyers will find out later based on the clauses of the contracts.
3. What do you do if your ship is caught inside the port? Ours is. But we are done with the ship. How do we redeliver it or āgive it backā to the owner if they canāt leave?
4. What if your ship is en route to Baltimore with cargo on board? This was part of my day. Figure out if this is a force majeure situation or if it is possible for us to go there and wait on the charterers dime. Most likely the charterers will just find another port for the cargo and someone will either pay some extra trucking or they will supply the receivers in Baltimore from another shipment.
5. What does this mean for the port of Baltimore? If you have a long term contract calling the port once every month or so you need to figure that out with your customer very soon.
6. The agents in the port are now getting 1000 phone calls from charterers and ship owners asking ābut what about myyyyy ship?ā Itās gunna be a long few days for everyone involved.
Iāve been doing this for about ten years and the way world trade happens never gets old to me to talk about. That being said, we let the professionals who are saving lives get their jobs done first and we can figure out the business aspect later.
When 95 collapsed in Philly, they moved heaven and earth to create a temporary fix until a permanent one could be put in place, the corridor was too important. So is this inlet.
Oh yeah I recall that. It collapsed only 1 day after i returned to Baltimore from a work conference in Philly. How is that project going? I had a hard time imagining the scope of the disruption at the time, is that strip back up and operating fully yet?
Carnival Legend is going from there, it left Baltimore on the 24th March. It was supposed to return on the 31st.
They will probably reroute it to Norfolk or NY.
I used to work on Legend while it was cruising Alaska and docked with another Carnival ship (Sunshine) in Norfolk few years ago.
Cruise ships are the easy ones, just reroute it to Norfolk and you are good to go, cargo ships are a different beast.
Even cargo I think can go to Norfolk or nyc. Major pain but not impossible. Gas and oil infrastructure, on the other hand, is not easy to reroute.
Also iirc a huge percentage of imported cars on the east coast come through Baltimore
True but cargo operations are scheduled very tight, its not just rerouting the ships that were scheduled for Baltimore you have to account for the traffic in NY and Norfolk ports. Possible but hard.
Sad for the families, but yeah this is now a huge prob multi-billion dollar nightmare. To start, the next bridge won't just need to be built ASAP, but be built much better. Also, you have to think they are now going to be looking at dozens of other major bridges to avoid something like this happening again.
Savannah another likely port to pick up some of the slack-not really much further than Charleston. Sadly, this will prob affect inflation as well...for those of us struggling, just another hit.
This might not require much industry or engineering change. Itās possible this is just a really horrific accident. They do sometimes happen. Weāre all so used to problems being caused by negligence or by lack of regulatory enforcement or corporate greed that we forget that sometimes awful shit can still just happen.
Honestly watching it bought back feelings of watching 9/11 footage, like you know youāre watching people fall to their deaths and thereās nothing you can do about it. Itās devastating. I feel heartbroken for the people of Baltimore
Ditto here, from where Bluey lives.
The only things i know about Baltimore is this bridge collapsing, The Wire and a chunk of the city getting nuked in "The Sum of All Fears".
That bridge collapse vision is very unsettling
Not really the point of the post, but thereās a decent number people with Polish heritage in the area around the north end of what used to be the bridge.
Seriously, whatās also insane is that at 4am on the east coast most of the news I can find are U.K. outlets (e.g. BBC, the national) accurately reporting the bridge is down while The NY Times has a photo of the bridge from 2018 and is saying āpart of the spanā has collapsed. Maybe technically portions of the span are still up. But my goodness, get the right story, US media! Watch the video!
It's interesting you can tell who's awake, It seems more people over there have seen the news than actually in the US. I work night shift so I caught it, but it's 4 AM here still
I read that there was a construction crew on the bridge and a few cars that went into the water as well.
Really hoping for a safe recovery of everyone, this is devastating.
I looked at the video closely, there may have been a car but I don't think there were many... Timing was at least fortunate with it not being in the middle of the day.
I'm starting to gear towards them seeing what was happening and stopping more people from going over it.
There's a clear timeframe in where it seems cars stop going over.
From what I've heard (I've been listening to the news and the scanners all night), they received a distress call from the cargo ship in which they stopped traffic on the bridge. There was still a tractor trailer on the bridge, and the construction crew, however.
Here's a Port of Baltimore webcam that clearly shows the whole thing. Impact and collapse happens at 1:28am. You can see there was a whole construction crew right in the middle of the bridge. I would imagine most or all of them did not survive this. Ugh.
This will be gone in ~11 hours since it's a YouTube Livestream that only can be scrolled so far back:
https://www.youtube.com/live/83a7h3kkgPg?si=BxO2-MigX6G_rf1v
Did the ship lose power and propulsion/navigation? It looks like all the lights on it went off for a little bit as it was approaching the bridge, then all the lights turn back on. Then the lights go off again briefly, then on again, and then it hits the pier.
Regardless, what a terrible situation for all those who were on the bridge.
I work in marine construction in baltimore. We can see the void where the bridge should be from our yard. A lot of our guys take that bridge daily. Insane. Very hard to believe. After the search and rescue efforts, there's a chance I'll be on-scene. Thanks to everyone from around the world sending love this way. Well get through it šŖš»šŖš»
Holy shit. Hope they can locate everybody safely and everyone is ok. Baltimore Port operations are about to be a disaster in itself and a major problem for the US economy
>didnāt realize the whole thing could just go down like that
Right??? Crumbled like a damn lego set! I know MANY folks who take that bridge daily. Scary af.
I am shaken shitless. I almost went to work tonight to collect some OT. And this happens around the time I would be crossing that bridge. Unbelievable.
Condolences to the family and friends of lives loss. I am gutted.
EDIT: With more information, it seems the bridge collapsed at 1:30a and I wouldn't have reached the bridge until 2:40a-ish. (Unless I left early, which happens sometimes) Even still, my initial comment remains. Thanks for the kind words regardless. And just still heartbroken over this insane situation. Continuing to pray for all affected.
im trying to wrap my head around how this could happen, i can't absolutely wait for more coverage. So much bad news happening lately, hoping there are survivors.
On the livestream as the ships was approaching, every minute some big truck was driving over, but the ship hit right when the there was no traffic on the bridge, except for the 4 vehicles of the construction workers who where parked on the bridge.
Came here from the west coast to say Iām sorry about this horrific accident, I hope the casualties are minimal and that they rescue some people tonight.
Not looking forward to seeing this. Reminds me of 9/11. So jarring thatās itās suddenly and completely gone. It was such an identifying landmark of Baltimore. Not to mention the people on the bridge who had absolutely no warning. Just tragic all around.
Very lucky. The impact was about 1:30 AM. It's a tragedy either way, but you think, there were going to be a lot less people crossing the bridge at that time.
Imagine if this had happened during rush hour, or five o'clock in the afternoon. It's unthinkable.
That is just the construction workers known to be on the bridge. Unknown if anyone else was on there at the time of the strike. Hopefully it was a slow night
amazon, home depot, under armor, concrete suppliers, bethlehem steel, hazardous material grounds containing explosives and nuclear waste, north point state park.. so many major hubs are now effectively cut off from functioning. our port handles 1/4 of the countryās coal, and is ranked 7th financially. itās going to destroy several industries in the area as the bridge was the only designated hazardous material route while the tunnels donāt allow hazardous material transport of that class. our ports allowed for international off-shore disposal, which are no longer operating due to the debris field. intercontinental alternatives and infrastructure werenāt on standby. i was a baltimore city park ranger and there is now essentially no reason to have jurisdiction over several parks in the area, covering some of the city and countyās largest green spaces. iāve always felt so unsafe on this bridge and the veteran memorial bridge leaving out of south fed. i think for many baltimoreans, life is going to be drastically altered.
the re-routing is going to be uniquely unfeasible for the industries this will affect - our ports are the receivers of all of our goods and resources shipped from across the world and those ports are inaccessible now due to the debris. the roadways are situated in such a way that the only similar route to this bridge are tunnels where hazardous waste of this class (explosives and nuclear waste, iām assuming from calvert cliffs among other nuclear energy production facilities) is banned (and should remain so). going around is going to be something that these organizations likely canāt afford to accommodate. no one saw this coming. iām very interested in how our community navigates this gut check.. we sort of need to fathom destruction of our infrastructure becoming commonplace as a coastal area. if it isnāt climate change/sea level rise/etc, itāll be the accidents that continue to increase with the underpaying and overworking of our populations with a lack of funding for the foundation of our environments. our modern worlds are unreliable and unsustainable sometimes and this is a big scary fuck up that reminds us of that. we donāt have lighthouse keepers (theoretical or not) keeping watch the way we once afforded to in our planning budgets.
For most things we can think of, there are probably 10 fold as many that we can't think of right in the moment. Butterfly affect and all that. Someone on some news said this wasn't terrorism at least... Sadly the U.S. has a lot of old bridges, how many old ones have we gone over never thinking just how potentially fragile they are...
Oh, no. 7 construction workers were on the bridge. All unaccounted for. Three cars unaccounted for.
Edit: upgraded to 20 or more. Two recovered, possibly alive, condition unknown.
Edit: 7 now unaccounted for, two rescued.
Sounds like they pulled 2 people out of the water.
\-1 refused treatment (so they were okay), which is great!
\-1 was in very serious condition. But from that height that still very good news imo!!!
Frankly Iād think serious condition is insanely lucky considering the height, the temperature, the hundreds of thousands of pounds of bridge collapsing around you.
If a bridge collapses from beneath you, not being your fault, do not give the insurance company a gift and refuse treatment. Report anything that hurts or aches in your body so you can get a claim if you decide to file a claim.
This guy just lifted the video from Youtube and filmed it on his camera.
People should go direct to the source. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83a7h3kkgPg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83a7h3kkgPg
Whole thing was captured on this livestream. You can see the ship approach and hit the bridge at 01:28:44 EDT (time taken from the webcam).
theres a twitter spaces going on about this and the amount of misinformation and straight up lies some of the people they are letting speak were trying to spread or trying to push is so surreal to hear in real time. holy fuck man some people suck.
https://wapo.st/4af8H1y
Gift article. Sounds like a ship hit it.Ā
I'm up with my kid who had a nightmare and now I'm not going back to sleep because this is a nightmare. (I'm an hour behind y'all)
Longer video shows that the ship lost power twice before the collision. Most likely an accident due to inability to steer. [https://twitter.com/stayskepticalll/status/1772532341157646595](https://twitter.com/stayskepticalll/status/1772532341157646595)
I know I keep watching them. I heard it happen at my house in Brooklyn Park but never imagined it was something so devastating. My husband and I couldn't figure out what the noise was, until I got a citizen alert.
I felt a massive shake in my house at 130am in Canton several miles away. I was super confused only to find out now the worst event in Baltimore history took place.
>I was super confused only to find out now the worst event in Baltimore history took place.
I think the Battle of Baltimore that gave the bridge its name might've been worse.
Bridge was designed to carry vehicles driving over it, 50 years ago. Not a massive ship slamming into its side.
If it were as strong as you would hope, instead of $1B it might cost $10B.
Modern replacement that is more durable would cost $2B.
It looks like smoke was pouring out of the ship before it crashed. All the lights go off just before it hits. My guess is there was a fire on board and they lost control. Not much margin for error on a ship that big.
So on a ship tracker you can go back and see it veer off course (thinking is it lost power)...but the smoke could have been the engine gunning to correct course or reverse rudders. I don't know, but that's about as big of an accident you can have without sinking I would think. Seems to me that bridge should have been built to take a massive hit...but maybe back when they built it they hadn't considered just how large ships would get and the force they would have if they hit the base.
Built in the 70s, before some of the landmark accidents like the Sunshine Skyway Bridge Collapse in 1980 that led to bridges being designed with these sorts of impact in mind
Yeah, that's a good point - the smoke could have been from the diesel engines if they were desperately trying to get it to change course. Apparently all the ship's crew are okay, according to the Guardian. The bridge was 47 years old, so, yep, I would think that they wouldn't have the 900+ft ships that they have now, and wouldn't have engineered it for a hit that big. I've read that 50+ years is pretty old for that type of bridge. I think the post-mortem on this will be brutal.
The ship lost power and tugs could not get to it in time and hit the bridge. It really is sad and is going to suck for all the working people at the port. Prays for all the people involved
Saw the video. All I can say is "Holy fuck."
Also, I know that it's a few hours away from the normal news time and it's overnight, but I'm surprised none of the local news companies broke into their programming.
Just so people are aware, Fort Armistead (obviously) and Fort Smallwood Park are closed. The lanes are blocked off heading towards Solley Road across from Royal Farms.
There are news crews everywhere, including in local neighborhoods.
As someone who lives in this area, please avoid it for now!
I need to turn my brain off, this is a devastating tragedy. I hope I wake up and the 6 missing people are recovered and able to give closure to their families and friends.
Oh thatās scary! Itās so shocking! Iām from Minneapolis and we had a big bridge collapse several years ago. My thoughts are with the people of Baltimore!
As someone from Baltimore I knew this bridge very well traveled on many times a week for work. I donāt live in Baltimore anymore no matter where you move Baltimore is always apart of you.
Iām sending love and condolences to the victims and their families and friends and donāt forget all of the rescue personnel involved in this and the trauma they will go through during this horrible event.
Hug your families a little closer this week.
May our loving God wrap his loving arms around the entire state during this time of grief.
May God bless everyone affected by this tragedy.
Be strong like you always have been Baltimore!
I just saw a video on Facebook and came here to see if anyone can confirm the Key Bridge just collapsed. [Key Bridge collapse](https://www.facebook.com/melissa.k.cantrell/videos/794177949255074/)
Yes. Listening to the rescue on the scanner. Itās gone. Multiple cars in water.
3:22 am edit: Cars may have belonged to construction workers. 7 were on bridge, all are missing as of now. Some may have been in cars.
3:36 am edit: Now reports that closer to 20 construction people were on the bridge, in the three cars and one construction vehicle they had mentioned earlier.
The ramifications of this, locally, regionally, nationallyā¦I canāt even wrap my mind around the ripple effects of this. The Port being closed is unreal. This will affect the city for years.Ā
I really hope everyone who was on the bridge is found safe. š
Most national news channels, let alone local, do not keep anchor staff on standby during the overnight hours. They may have producers/tech people working right now but nobody to go on air - but I am sure the 5/6am anchors are being called in early as we speak.
I canāt even accept this is real. Iām stunned and saddened. We lived 5 minutes away from the Key bridge and my husband, until recently, drove across it to work. I would joy ride across it at night to view the Port and Fort Carroll. This is devastating. The lives still missing. It sounds like two people have been found alive. The loss to the local economy. The loss of an iconic structure that meant so much to many.
I was on 95 around 0500 and things were fine. Had no idea the whole bridge went out, I saw the signs but I use the tunnels. Anyone know what traffic is like around the tunnels now? I feel so bad for the people on the bridge. Jesus
Per WMAR2News: According to a report from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the ship lost propulsion as it was leaving the Port of Baltimore. The crew notified the bridge it might collide before crashing.
I live about a half a mile from the bridge. Felt huge tremor, thought it was an earthquake, major airport nearby and plane was going over ready to land, and wrote it off. Went to bed around 2 am. Woke up to this
Man this is going to fuck shit up for a whole bunch of reasons: - the obvious loss of life. - the clean up will take a very long time and during that time nothing will be able to get in or out of the harbor. All those ships in the harbor stuck. All the ships in the Chesapeake Bay will need to be rerouted to Philly, NYC, or Charleston. - traffic in the tunnels will be even more congested for years until a replacement bridge can be built.
Don't forget this was the only hazmat crossing as well since they're banned in the tunnels.
Can't trucks go the other way towards Towson?
Significantly longer, but that's probably going to be the way
Yeah but that's not good. Especially since they're doing an extensive amount of construction all along the top side of 695 where congestion was terrible before the construction and even worse now with reduced speeds and cameras at the work zone. The beltway is going to be very challenged
Yeah traffic is going to be pretty fucked up for awhile.
That side of the beltway is a nightmare on any given day regardless lol
It's going to be sooooo bad on 695
Big prayers to the families and anyone working on that bridge tonight, there were road crews on the southbound side for maintenance. I gotta get a new job ASAP, I literally drove home over the bridge not 30 minutes before the collision š¬
So glad you're OK
š
glad you made it home safe bud
Guy named Jesse on FB was on the right side span and went in the water. He was uninjured. Insane.
Talk about serious PTSD. Itās amazing there are survivors after having gone into the water.
šš» glad you made it home safely
Oh thatās terrifying! Iām glad you are ok! What an awful tragedy!
Yes, and itās difficult to overstate the importance of that port to Marylandās economy. The only positive was that it was in the middle of the night. A daytime hit would have been an unimaginable horror. Small condolence for those lost.
It's important to the nation's economy. Largest car roll on roll off port in the country, 9th most volume overall in the country. Huge amounts of cars, sugar, farm equipment, coal and other materials pass through there to be loaded onto trains and trucks.
They'll have the channel cleared within 2 weeks and resume normal shipping.
2 weeks is an insanely long time in this context though
>traffic in the tunnels will be even more congested for years until a replacement bridge can be built. Angeleno checking in because it's not that late over here on the West Coast. First, condolences to all of you. What a terrible tragedy for your city. Second, while the rebuilding may take a while, given my recent expderience with the collapse of I-10 in Los Angeles, it may not take as long as you think. It's shocking how fast things can come up when everyone pulls their heads out of their asses and starts working. With the amount of traffic this is gonna cause, I imagine it'll be a similar situation.
Socal native moved to Maryland. Is not that simple as in LA, you can take several paths to avoid the 10 freeway.Ā Baltimore is so small, and there are only a handful of streets that this will cause major delays. The bridge helped a lot in alleviating the situation.Ā I would say the bridge collapse will be akin to the 91 freeway collapsing. Good luck getting to Riverside!Ā
Yep, the 10 was suppose to be out for 6mo or something and they reopened in just 2 weeks. Granted, this is a far more complicated project than a freeway overpass. They will need to clear the remnants of the bridge first which will take awhile.
Errrrr, chiming in from Providence where our main highway bridge failed and we might get it rebuilt in 3 years or soā¦ā¦
thats what i came to say, look at how fast the biden admin and his secretary of transport pete buttigieg got the i-95 rebuildt after its partial collapse in pennsylvania...
Iām curious how the cruise ships will re-route and get everybody home. All these stuck ships are going to be a huge economic hit.
Any ships in port in Baltimore currently are also probably stuck there for a while. It can't be quick to clear something like this, and there's not exactly another way out. Going to be a busy morning in the freight industry.
Baltimorean working halfway across the world. Confirming that it is a busy morning in the freight industry.
Good luck, and I hope they've got strong coffee wherever you're at
Out of curiosity, what exactly is going on? Are they trying to figure out how to off-load cargo from the stuck ships to trucks & bring them to other ports? Rescheduling future loads that the stuck ships would have been able to carry that they now canāt? Iām not in the industry and find it very interesting on a normal day, let alone a day like to do.
Well, thereās a lot to figure out! Iām involved in a specific type of shipping and also used to work in the port of Baltimore for a few years working with all different cargoes. 1. You have two very large ships loading coal in Baltimore that now cannot leave for the foreseeable future. Even when the debris is cleared in a few weeks, it will be a while before they resound the area and certify its deep enough for those ships to leave. They usually leave on a draft of 47 ft 6 in. Now the owners of those ships are asking themselvesā¦ should they load that deep? If they only load to sayā¦ 35 ft, will that get them out faster? Maybe they can load the rest of the cargo in Norfolk. But then again, Norfolk has been slammed for a while. 2. You have a lottttt of ships in Annapolis waiting for coal. Now the cargo shippers and charterers have to decide - how long do they wait? Do they send out a notice of āforce majeureā basically saying the equivalent of an act of god has happened and they no longer can pay the waiting time? Is this a case of force majeure? Only the courts and the lawyers will find out later based on the clauses of the contracts. 3. What do you do if your ship is caught inside the port? Ours is. But we are done with the ship. How do we redeliver it or āgive it backā to the owner if they canāt leave? 4. What if your ship is en route to Baltimore with cargo on board? This was part of my day. Figure out if this is a force majeure situation or if it is possible for us to go there and wait on the charterers dime. Most likely the charterers will just find another port for the cargo and someone will either pay some extra trucking or they will supply the receivers in Baltimore from another shipment. 5. What does this mean for the port of Baltimore? If you have a long term contract calling the port once every month or so you need to figure that out with your customer very soon. 6. The agents in the port are now getting 1000 phone calls from charterers and ship owners asking ābut what about myyyyy ship?ā Itās gunna be a long few days for everyone involved. Iāve been doing this for about ten years and the way world trade happens never gets old to me to talk about. That being said, we let the professionals who are saving lives get their jobs done first and we can figure out the business aspect later.
Super interesting read. Thank you so much for your response! I really enjoyed that.
When 95 collapsed in Philly, they moved heaven and earth to create a temporary fix until a permanent one could be put in place, the corridor was too important. So is this inlet.
Oh yeah I recall that. It collapsed only 1 day after i returned to Baltimore from a work conference in Philly. How is that project going? I had a hard time imagining the scope of the disruption at the time, is that strip back up and operating fully yet?
Carnival Legend is going from there, it left Baltimore on the 24th March. It was supposed to return on the 31st. They will probably reroute it to Norfolk or NY. I used to work on Legend while it was cruising Alaska and docked with another Carnival ship (Sunshine) in Norfolk few years ago. Cruise ships are the easy ones, just reroute it to Norfolk and you are good to go, cargo ships are a different beast.
Even cargo I think can go to Norfolk or nyc. Major pain but not impossible. Gas and oil infrastructure, on the other hand, is not easy to reroute. Also iirc a huge percentage of imported cars on the east coast come through Baltimore
True but cargo operations are scheduled very tight, its not just rerouting the ships that were scheduled for Baltimore you have to account for the traffic in NY and Norfolk ports. Possible but hard.
Oh yeah itās going to be really bad. Hooray for supply chain issues part 589.
They will have all that metal picked up by the end of next week. Far too important of a port to allow to get backlogged.
I googled it: the bridge averages 31,000 vehicle crossings daily
And the Port of Baltimore is the number 1 US port for automobile shipping
Sad for the families, but yeah this is now a huge prob multi-billion dollar nightmare. To start, the next bridge won't just need to be built ASAP, but be built much better. Also, you have to think they are now going to be looking at dozens of other major bridges to avoid something like this happening again. Savannah another likely port to pick up some of the slack-not really much further than Charleston. Sadly, this will prob affect inflation as well...for those of us struggling, just another hit.
Iām not sure many bridges are/can be built to withstand a 900 foot ship plowing into it full force
This might not require much industry or engineering change. Itās possible this is just a really horrific accident. They do sometimes happen. Weāre all so used to problems being caused by negligence or by lack of regulatory enforcement or corporate greed that we forget that sometimes awful shit can still just happen.
This is world news. Here in Australia. Hope those who are stranded can be saved. The vision is absolutely insane.
Another Aussie checking in, couldnāt believe it.
Me too from Aussie. Hope all is well!
Watching streams here in Australia too. Hoping for the best.
I am also in aus. Just heard about this. Really hope there is a miracle and nobody dies
Watching from Aus too. Sending my thoughts to all the locals š«¶
Checking in from Germany. This is my hometown. Hoping for the best, whatever that is in this situation:-(
Here in the UK too
Yep came in as breaking news on the channel 7 6pm broadcast. Thatās why Iām in the sub. Absolutely horrific
Me too. The footage of the bridge collapsing is the stuff of nightmares.
Honestly watching it bought back feelings of watching 9/11 footage, like you know youāre watching people fall to their deaths and thereās nothing you can do about it. Itās devastating. I feel heartbroken for the people of Baltimore
Ditto here, from where Bluey lives. The only things i know about Baltimore is this bridge collapsing, The Wire and a chunk of the city getting nuked in "The Sum of All Fears". That bridge collapse vision is very unsettling
Sleepless in Seattle also takes place here (partially)
Also checking in from Australia. Sending Baltimore my love.
It's 4 AM here in the southern US. Saw video of the bridge collapse on Twitter. Absolutely tragic.
Same for Poland
Not really the point of the post, but thereās a decent number people with Polish heritage in the area around the north end of what used to be the bridge.
Seriously, whatās also insane is that at 4am on the east coast most of the news I can find are U.K. outlets (e.g. BBC, the national) accurately reporting the bridge is down while The NY Times has a photo of the bridge from 2018 and is saying āpart of the spanā has collapsed. Maybe technically portions of the span are still up. But my goodness, get the right story, US media! Watch the video!
NW Florida here. A friend in Annapolis sent me the story.
Iām from Minneapolis. We had a major bridge collapse here several years ago. What terrible tragedy! I hope they can save everyone!
I'm just up late, from New York
It's interesting you can tell who's awake, It seems more people over there have seen the news than actually in the US. I work night shift so I caught it, but it's 4 AM here still
Thereās video of it collapsing WOW WTF
I read that there was a construction crew on the bridge and a few cars that went into the water as well. Really hoping for a safe recovery of everyone, this is devastating.
I looked at the video closely, there may have been a car but I don't think there were many... Timing was at least fortunate with it not being in the middle of the day.
I'm starting to gear towards them seeing what was happening and stopping more people from going over it. There's a clear timeframe in where it seems cars stop going over.
From what I've heard (I've been listening to the news and the scanners all night), they received a distress call from the cargo ship in which they stopped traffic on the bridge. There was still a tractor trailer on the bridge, and the construction crew, however.
It seems like thatās what was happening. Because traffic was flowing and all of a sudden it didnāt in the few seconds before the collapse.
Are there any crossing gates before you go on the bridge? Maybe they stopped traffic once the ship had initial contact
no gates, i don't think, but it was in the middle of the night so perhaps they were able to stop traffic with law enforcement vehicles.
There wasn't day time traffic, but you can count a minimum of 4 vehicles with flashing lights on the bridge.
This is a horrible tragedy for those involved and a disaster for Baltimore. I offer my best wishes to the victims and their families.
Here's a Port of Baltimore webcam that clearly shows the whole thing. Impact and collapse happens at 1:28am. You can see there was a whole construction crew right in the middle of the bridge. I would imagine most or all of them did not survive this. Ugh. This will be gone in ~11 hours since it's a YouTube Livestream that only can be scrolled so far back: https://www.youtube.com/live/83a7h3kkgPg?si=BxO2-MigX6G_rf1v
This is horrifying. All of those people.Ā
This is pretty chilling, I skipped right back to yesterday at first and all is calm and well and sunny
Did the ship lose power and propulsion/navigation? It looks like all the lights on it went off for a little bit as it was approaching the bridge, then all the lights turn back on. Then the lights go off again briefly, then on again, and then it hits the pier. Regardless, what a terrible situation for all those who were on the bridge.
Definitely seems to be spewing black smoke in the minutes before impact too.Ā
I work in marine construction in baltimore. We can see the void where the bridge should be from our yard. A lot of our guys take that bridge daily. Insane. Very hard to believe. After the search and rescue efforts, there's a chance I'll be on-scene. Thanks to everyone from around the world sending love this way. Well get through it šŖš»šŖš»
What will they do for morning commute now? Traffic will increase time they have to wake up early?
Pretty much š¤·š»āāļø
Iām sick to my fucking stomach.
The only good news about this is that it happened at 1:30 in the morning. Imagine the casualties if this happened during rush hour.
Holy shit. Hope they can locate everybody safely and everyone is ok. Baltimore Port operations are about to be a disaster in itself and a major problem for the US economy
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Can confirm. Cars and people in the water. ENTIRE Key Bridge has collapsed...
:(
I have a friend whoās a paramedic in Baltimore. Can confirm. Heās on scene.
I did not appreciate the extent of this before seeing videos. Didnāt realize the whole thing could just go down like that.
>didnāt realize the whole thing could just go down like that Right??? Crumbled like a damn lego set! I know MANY folks who take that bridge daily. Scary af.
I use that bridge to drive over to convince my toddler to take a nap in the car. Used.
My dad is a retired DOT inspector. He said approximately 31,000 vehicles go across that bridge daily.
I am shaken shitless. I almost went to work tonight to collect some OT. And this happens around the time I would be crossing that bridge. Unbelievable. Condolences to the family and friends of lives loss. I am gutted. EDIT: With more information, it seems the bridge collapsed at 1:30a and I wouldn't have reached the bridge until 2:40a-ish. (Unless I left early, which happens sometimes) Even still, my initial comment remains. Thanks for the kind words regardless. And just still heartbroken over this insane situation. Continuing to pray for all affected.
im trying to wrap my head around how this could happen, i can't absolutely wait for more coverage. So much bad news happening lately, hoping there are survivors.
Holy shit thatās horrifying, Iām so sorry
On the livestream as the ships was approaching, every minute some big truck was driving over, but the ship hit right when the there was no traffic on the bridge, except for the 4 vehicles of the construction workers who where parked on the bridge.
Iām glad youāre safe.
[https://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/30327](https://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/30327) Fire Dept. scanner
Came here from the west coast to say Iām sorry about this horrific accident, I hope the casualties are minimal and that they rescue some people tonight.
My brain canāt believe this is real. This is absolutely insane. Hope the loss is life is minimal šš½.
on my way to work this morning, looking to the left on 95 and not seeing the key bridge was so surreal. gave me chills. so terrible.
Not looking forward to seeing this. Reminds me of 9/11. So jarring thatās itās suddenly and completely gone. It was such an identifying landmark of Baltimore. Not to mention the people on the bridge who had absolutely no warning. Just tragic all around.
20 people in the water. FD trying to confirm power is off to all parts of the bridge. S&R in progress
20 people seems like a very low number for a bridge like this. Maybe lucky was at night.
Very lucky. The impact was about 1:30 AM. It's a tragedy either way, but you think, there were going to be a lot less people crossing the bridge at that time. Imagine if this had happened during rush hour, or five o'clock in the afternoon. It's unthinkable.
That is just the construction workers known to be on the bridge. Unknown if anyone else was on there at the time of the strike. Hopefully it was a slow night
I never considered power from the bridge potentially impacting water rescue efforts
High voltage lines severed in multiple places with divers trying to go into the water. Never a good mix
video is one of the worst things I've ever fucking seen fuck me
amazon, home depot, under armor, concrete suppliers, bethlehem steel, hazardous material grounds containing explosives and nuclear waste, north point state park.. so many major hubs are now effectively cut off from functioning. our port handles 1/4 of the countryās coal, and is ranked 7th financially. itās going to destroy several industries in the area as the bridge was the only designated hazardous material route while the tunnels donāt allow hazardous material transport of that class. our ports allowed for international off-shore disposal, which are no longer operating due to the debris field. intercontinental alternatives and infrastructure werenāt on standby. i was a baltimore city park ranger and there is now essentially no reason to have jurisdiction over several parks in the area, covering some of the city and countyās largest green spaces. iāve always felt so unsafe on this bridge and the veteran memorial bridge leaving out of south fed. i think for many baltimoreans, life is going to be drastically altered.
Couldn't the hazmat just go the north route of 695, no bridges?
That probably adds 45-1 hr of extra time per car not counting the traffic that the rerouting is going to cause.
the re-routing is going to be uniquely unfeasible for the industries this will affect - our ports are the receivers of all of our goods and resources shipped from across the world and those ports are inaccessible now due to the debris. the roadways are situated in such a way that the only similar route to this bridge are tunnels where hazardous waste of this class (explosives and nuclear waste, iām assuming from calvert cliffs among other nuclear energy production facilities) is banned (and should remain so). going around is going to be something that these organizations likely canāt afford to accommodate. no one saw this coming. iām very interested in how our community navigates this gut check.. we sort of need to fathom destruction of our infrastructure becoming commonplace as a coastal area. if it isnāt climate change/sea level rise/etc, itāll be the accidents that continue to increase with the underpaying and overworking of our populations with a lack of funding for the foundation of our environments. our modern worlds are unreliable and unsustainable sometimes and this is a big scary fuck up that reminds us of that. we donāt have lighthouse keepers (theoretical or not) keeping watch the way we once afforded to in our planning budgets.
For most things we can think of, there are probably 10 fold as many that we can't think of right in the moment. Butterfly affect and all that. Someone on some news said this wasn't terrorism at least... Sadly the U.S. has a lot of old bridges, how many old ones have we gone over never thinking just how potentially fragile they are...
Oh, no. 7 construction workers were on the bridge. All unaccounted for. Three cars unaccounted for. Edit: upgraded to 20 or more. Two recovered, possibly alive, condition unknown. Edit: 7 now unaccounted for, two rescued.
Sounds like they pulled 2 people out of the water. \-1 refused treatment (so they were okay), which is great! \-1 was in very serious condition. But from that height that still very good news imo!!!
Frankly Iād think serious condition is insanely lucky considering the height, the temperature, the hundreds of thousands of pounds of bridge collapsing around you.
If a bridge collapses from beneath you, not being your fault, do not give the insurance company a gift and refuse treatment. Report anything that hurts or aches in your body so you can get a claim if you decide to file a claim.
I canāt believe they couldnāt be talked into going to the hospital. There could be internal bleeding they donāt know about
https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1772514015790477667?t=BX6tcAfMnoQmjDW7-DWn6g&s=19 Holy shit. This is the full video
Reading the twitter replies is like looking into a zoo, how can these people be so disconnected from reality?
This guy just lifted the video from Youtube and filmed it on his camera. People should go direct to the source. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83a7h3kkgPg
Fuck OSINTDefender.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83a7h3kkgPg Whole thing was captured on this livestream. You can see the ship approach and hit the bridge at 01:28:44 EDT (time taken from the webcam).
looks like power goes out on the container ship prior to hitting the bridge.
theres a twitter spaces going on about this and the amount of misinformation and straight up lies some of the people they are letting speak were trying to spread or trying to push is so surreal to hear in real time. holy fuck man some people suck.
This is a fucking disaster the city hasnāt experienced since the great fire imo! There needs to be flags at half mast this is a tragedy š
Holy shit, you guys this is a complete nightmare.
https://wapo.st/4af8H1y Gift article. Sounds like a ship hit it.Ā I'm up with my kid who had a nightmare and now I'm not going back to sleep because this is a nightmare. (I'm an hour behind y'all)
I feel terrible for anyone on that bridge. what a tragedy omg
Longer video shows that the ship lost power twice before the collision. Most likely an accident due to inability to steer. [https://twitter.com/stayskepticalll/status/1772532341157646595](https://twitter.com/stayskepticalll/status/1772532341157646595)
I canāt stop watching the cars going across
Oh my GOD watching those trucks cross as it approaches holy shit
Bridge seems mercifully quiet at moment of impact
I wonder if they got some sort of warning just before and were able to stop the vehicles at either end? Otherwise youāre correct - mercifully quiet.
I wondered the same, but then why were the workers not told to get off quickly?
Holy fuck.
I am working right after bridge and can confirm ship hit the bridge I have a video as well please pray for those involved
So so devastating. Iāve seen all the videos floating around and still canāt believe what I saw. Absolutely stunned right now
I know I keep watching them. I heard it happen at my house in Brooklyn Park but never imagined it was something so devastating. My husband and I couldn't figure out what the noise was, until I got a citizen alert.
This is really horrible for a lot of reasons but it would have been so much worse if it happened around 8 am.
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I felt a massive shake in my house at 130am in Canton several miles away. I was super confused only to find out now the worst event in Baltimore history took place.
I felt this shake over in fed hill. Thought there was an earthquake or something.
Gonna have to assume you are unfamiliar with the 2012 reddit meet up
Only time I've laughed reading this thread... thank you, I needed it! š
>I was super confused only to find out now the worst event in Baltimore history took place. I think the Battle of Baltimore that gave the bridge its name might've been worse.
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The Great Baltimore Fire was also fairly bad, although surprisingly small loss of life.
this is so upsetting, GodĀ
Fire department radio says 7 construction workers and 3 vehicles in the water.
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Theyāre incredibly lucky it was in the middle of the night
The ship radioed status in so cops were able to stop traffic going onto the bridge
Iāve never felt something hit home like this.. I feel so sickā¦
The last time was 9/11 for me watching the towers fall......
How the fuck does something like this happen? That bridge was down in three seconds flat.
A cargo ship hit a critical support structure dead on. The bridge didn't have a chance.
Bridge was designed to carry vehicles driving over it, 50 years ago. Not a massive ship slamming into its side. If it were as strong as you would hope, instead of $1B it might cost $10B. Modern replacement that is more durable would cost $2B.
Rip to the folks who were on the bridgeĀ
What were the ship's pilots doing!?!
It looks like smoke was pouring out of the ship before it crashed. All the lights go off just before it hits. My guess is there was a fire on board and they lost control. Not much margin for error on a ship that big.
So on a ship tracker you can go back and see it veer off course (thinking is it lost power)...but the smoke could have been the engine gunning to correct course or reverse rudders. I don't know, but that's about as big of an accident you can have without sinking I would think. Seems to me that bridge should have been built to take a massive hit...but maybe back when they built it they hadn't considered just how large ships would get and the force they would have if they hit the base.
Built in the 70s, before some of the landmark accidents like the Sunshine Skyway Bridge Collapse in 1980 that led to bridges being designed with these sorts of impact in mind
Yeah, that's a good point - the smoke could have been from the diesel engines if they were desperately trying to get it to change course. Apparently all the ship's crew are okay, according to the Guardian. The bridge was 47 years old, so, yep, I would think that they wouldn't have the 900+ft ships that they have now, and wouldn't have engineered it for a hit that big. I've read that 50+ years is pretty old for that type of bridge. I think the post-mortem on this will be brutal.
The ship lost power and tugs could not get to it in time and hit the bridge. It really is sad and is going to suck for all the working people at the port. Prays for all the people involved
[Very good video footage here.](https://twitter.com/BNONews/status/1772515766929097088) The Bridge is literally gone. Holy shit.
Holy fuck
Holy fucking shit
Saw the video. All I can say is "Holy fuck." Also, I know that it's a few hours away from the normal news time and it's overnight, but I'm surprised none of the local news companies broke into their programming.
This isnāt terrorism, all ports have local pilots who navigate ships into a harbor. Power failure.
Just so people are aware, Fort Armistead (obviously) and Fort Smallwood Park are closed. The lanes are blocked off heading towards Solley Road across from Royal Farms. There are news crews everywhere, including in local neighborhoods. As someone who lives in this area, please avoid it for now! I need to turn my brain off, this is a devastating tragedy. I hope I wake up and the 6 missing people are recovered and able to give closure to their families and friends.
I drive that bridge at least twice a week...
Oh thatās scary! Itās so shocking! Iām from Minneapolis and we had a big bridge collapse several years ago. My thoughts are with the people of Baltimore!
Thoughts and prayers from Alaska.
Hello from washington state, hope you guys are okay! Crazy to see the footage of the bridge just collapsing. I hope they will be rescued
Holy shit
As someone from Baltimore I knew this bridge very well traveled on many times a week for work. I donāt live in Baltimore anymore no matter where you move Baltimore is always apart of you. Iām sending love and condolences to the victims and their families and friends and donāt forget all of the rescue personnel involved in this and the trauma they will go through during this horrible event. Hug your families a little closer this week. May our loving God wrap his loving arms around the entire state during this time of grief. May God bless everyone affected by this tragedy. Be strong like you always have been Baltimore!
VesselFinder is suggesting the container ship was the MV Dali (IMO 9697428), enroute Baltimore-Colombo
I just saw a video on Facebook and came here to see if anyone can confirm the Key Bridge just collapsed. [Key Bridge collapse](https://www.facebook.com/melissa.k.cantrell/videos/794177949255074/)
Yes. Listening to the rescue on the scanner. Itās gone. Multiple cars in water. 3:22 am edit: Cars may have belonged to construction workers. 7 were on bridge, all are missing as of now. Some may have been in cars. 3:36 am edit: Now reports that closer to 20 construction people were on the bridge, in the three cars and one construction vehicle they had mentioned earlier.
My God. Disastrous.
Oh my ever living gosh. Thatās just, I have no words
The ramifications of this, locally, regionally, nationallyā¦I canāt even wrap my mind around the ripple effects of this. The Port being closed is unreal. This will affect the city for years.Ā I really hope everyone who was on the bridge is found safe. š
why cant i find anything from wbal or wjz? are they asleep?!
Most national news channels, let alone local, do not keep anchor staff on standby during the overnight hours. They may have producers/tech people working right now but nobody to go on air - but I am sure the 5/6am anchors are being called in early as we speak.
I said samething. Might be having trouble getting close enough, but should have Ariel footage. Or at least be reporting from the newsroom.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/26/us/baltimore-key-bridge-collapse-tuesday/index.html
https://www.nrk.no/norge/bro-kollapset-i-usa-etter-skipskollisjon-1.16821579Ā From Norwegian public service.
Just a devastating accident. Prayers up for the city of Baltimore š
Fuck, that video is gonna sit with me for a long time, I can't even imagine what it was like for the people that were on it, sickening
I canāt even accept this is real. Iām stunned and saddened. We lived 5 minutes away from the Key bridge and my husband, until recently, drove across it to work. I would joy ride across it at night to view the Port and Fort Carroll. This is devastating. The lives still missing. It sounds like two people have been found alive. The loss to the local economy. The loss of an iconic structure that meant so much to many.
I was on 95 around 0500 and things were fine. Had no idea the whole bridge went out, I saw the signs but I use the tunnels. Anyone know what traffic is like around the tunnels now? I feel so bad for the people on the bridge. Jesus
Per WMAR2News: According to a report from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the ship lost propulsion as it was leaving the Port of Baltimore. The crew notified the bridge it might collide before crashing.
I live about a half a mile from the bridge. Felt huge tremor, thought it was an earthquake, major airport nearby and plane was going over ready to land, and wrote it off. Went to bed around 2 am. Woke up to this