This is going to screw up traffic

Anyone know the percentage of North and South I95 traffic went over that bridge. I seem to recall going around via 695 on occasion when going to NJ

 

If its a power outtage, how would the pilot be liable? Ship owner needs to keep their fleet maintained. An insurance nightmare.

 

This will be the latest excuse by OneX as to why my shirts still aren't here.

 

The captain, owners, and charter company would argue that the pilot had too much steering input at the time of the power outage and should have known something could happen. It's a spurious argument at best, but one they'll throw out there. And was there a tug hooked on at the time? Two pilots on board tells me either there was an old timer and apprentice or a harbor pilot and docking pilot. The docking pilots handle the coordination of tugs for final maneuvering into the docks and any complex movements requiring auxiliary power (turning basins, tight bends, low clearance, etc.) Everyone is going to be blaming everyone else. Maritime law is a blast. Think of how many countries and entities will be involved in this litigation. It's worse than bird and tree law combined. Oh, cargo owners whose shipments are damaged or delayed will file claims as well.

 

Wow....2015. Usually these types of things are 70's barely kept afloat jobbies....well this will be interesting

And yes so many parties and courts involved. For those of you who dont know typically it goes something like this...boat is owned by Boat Owner INC based in Wherever. They dont run the boat though. It will be leased or managed by Boat management inc based in Greece or The Bahamas or something like that. The boat it self will be flagged as a boat from Singapore or Turkey, or The Philippines or someplace else with cheap labor and good maritime laws. the crew can be hired form a different company Maritime Crew Company Inc based in Rotterdam, from a bunch of different nations, so you have that nation involved. and then you may have had a different company Chartering the boat, Maritime Freight Hauler Inc based in Hong Kong who is chartering the boat for 1 trip, 1 year, whatever....paying to use it to haul freight on this trip.

Now they all have contracts that say what they have to do, what insurance they have to have, who pays for what, all based in different nations, with some laws and precedents going back hundreds of years. Oh and of course the state of Maryland will probably try to get their nose in and charge someone with aa crime, As will DC. A bunch of them, or their insurers, will probably settle based on some percentage and call it good. After the lawyers decide they have billed enough hours.

 

The lawyers are gonna make out well thats all I know

 

Only about 20%. Most N-S traffic goes through the Ft. McHenry tunnel and the smaller Harbor tunnel.

 

That's the one constant in all of these situations.

 

And don't forget the other port users who are affected by this. Oil terminals, Port Authority, trucking companies, time-sensitive shipments, and manufacturers.

My guess is most cargo gets rerouted to Norfolk and transhipped to the port or directly to the customer.

 

Yeah. And Norfolk is where a lot of my east coast stuff comes thru. And its already delayed getting there.
I have a shipment right now that when it was booked only 6 weeks ago was estimated to arrive into our warehouse near Cincy ~4/12. Yesterday my update was it was due into Port of Norfolk 4/25 and they estimate delivering ~7 days later. This has been typical for the last 4-6 months, due mostly to the canal issues. But we are seeing some delays at trans ship ports, just like during covid. As the canal causes ships to miss their sailings it messes with the schedules and causes issues farther down the line. Its like a mini covid shipping from Asia to teh US east coast.

This port issue wont help any. If they rail stuff from Norfolk out to final destinations that will also slow things down even further.

I expect another 2-3 weeks for my east coast stuff for the a few months. I am already planning to add some shipments to make up for the extra delay. If i add a month in transit its like loosing a shipment.

 

No tunnel on this route, so all the hazmat, fuel, and explosives on I-95 go on this way. That includes campers, motorhomes, and toy haulers with propane tanks. They will have to take the much longer route around the west side of Baltimore on 695. That is noise compared to the disruption in the shipping traffic of course. Some smaller vessels might be able to get through under the parts of the bridge that are still standing provided a channel is deep enough for them and they certify those parts of the bridge are not at imminent risk of collapsing as well.

 

That video was in fast forward.

 

The Yacht was leaving town , no tug on it. Same shit happened years ago in Tampa. Yet it was foggy in that one IIRC. Bus took a dive and a couple cars.

 

In light of some similar accidents in the not-too-distant past,
why are those bridge supports not protected to keep ships
from being able to collide with them?

 

Pilots could certainly share some blame here. Was 8 knots a bit fast for a ship of this size going under the bridge? Were they cutting the corner a little close trying to save fuel / time / money? When you look at the design of the bridge, each part depends on the other parts to keep the forces in balance. When one part goes, the whole thing loses balance.

To answer IYC's question: $

 

They are. Just not enough for a case like this.

 

8 knots is probably the minimum safe speed to maintain steerage. Definitely not too fast to pass under a bridge.

 

What exactly would you protect them with?

Remember, the average loaded container ship weighs 165,000 TONS.

 

Yeah, that makes sense. It could have been moving even faster relative to the bridge if the tide was going the same direction as the ship.