The big news yesterday was the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore after it was struck by a container ship leaving the Port of Baltimore heading for Sri Lanka.
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| Source: https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/03/26/key-bridge-collapses-into-patapsco/ |
Before and after pictures of the bridge.
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| Credit: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/map-video-francis-scott-key-bridge-collapse-baltimore/ |
The bridge carried vehicle traffic as part of I-695 that was a major thoroughfare to and around Baltimore including a lot of north-south traffic that travels up and down I-95 on the east coast.
A map of the location of the bridge.
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| Credit: https://nypost.com/2024/03/26/us-news/baltimores-key-bridge-collapses-after-being-struck-by-a-container-ship/ |
The ship apparently lost power in the minutes before the collision. Video of the incident shows the lights on the ship going out, coming back on briefly and then going out again before the collision with the bridge.
Mrs, BeeLine and I had dinner one night on a cruise we were on in with a gentleman who had been a ship's engineer for some 40 years. The weather and seas were particularly rough on the Bering Sea between Alaska and Japan that night and my wife was concerned about how well the ship could withstand the pounding we were experiencing.
He assured her we had nothing to worry about---unless the lights went out which would signal we had lost power. He said that is the worst thing that can happen to any ship. At that point, you have lost all control of the ship.
This appears to be what occurred in this case. No power means that the captain had no control. It also did not matter that a local pilot was also on board. If you cannot control the rudder and the thrust of the propellers you are dependent on the current, the tides and the position of the rudder when power is lost. All of this becomes even more dangerous in a crowded area close to land and other objects with a large, heavy and cargo-laden ship that carries a lot of forward momentum.
In my mind, the biggest question to be answered here is why was the power lost?
The ship just left port 30 minutes before and presumably all systems would have been checked thoroughly before embarking on the long voyage ahead.
Authorities quickly ruled out terrorism but is it possible that a bad actor somehow hacked into the computer system that controlled the power plant on the ship and had a hand in all of this?
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that a prime focus of the investigation may involve whether the ship had taken on "dirty" fuel which caused the loss of power.
Whatever the cause, the effects of this disaster are going to reverberate through Baltimore and the national economy for a long time.
The bridge was first put into service in 1977 at a cost of $141 million to build. Inflation alone would put the cost at $741 million in today's dollars but my experience is that bridge construction project costs have far outpaced general inflation over the last 50 years. It would not surprise me to see that a new bridge would cost over $1 billion.
It took five years to build the bridge in the 1970's. How long will it take today?
The immediate problem is that the bridge is in the water and all of the ships in the Baltimore shipyard are stuck there until salvage crews can clear the debris? How long will this take?
All of the ships scheduled into Baltimore also now need to be redirected to other ports. This will create compounding effects on the global ocean supply chain at the same time that there are disruptions in the Suez Canal as well.
Baltimore is the major port for auto imports and exports for much of the country. Approximately 40% of the port's $55 billion of imported goods were cars and light trucks.
It is the main port used for many imports and exports into and out of the Midwest. Agricultural products and construction material such as gypsum are also major items imported into Baltimore. A lot of sugar is also imported through the port. Much of the coal exports from the United States flow from Baltimore. Are we looking for supply chain disruptions again?
Who is going to pay for all the costs and the disruptions?
Joe Biden stated yesterday that the federal government should pay for the bridge rebuild and he was going to ask Congress for the money.
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| Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/biden-says-wants-federal-government-pay-rebuilding-baltimore-bridge-ca-rcna145138 |
"We’re going to work with our partners in Congress to make sure the state gets the support it needs. It’s my intention that the federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing that bridge, and I expect the Congress to support my effort," Biden said in brief remarks from the White House before he left for North Carolina.
Biden said that it will take "some time" to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which transverses the Patapsco River, but that he told Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, that he's directing the federal government to "move heaven and earth" to reopen the port and rebuild the bridge "as soon as humanly possible."
China has set the standard on building bridges in record time. Here is a great opportunity to showcase some American ingenuity and effort. Is it still in us?
The Chinese would deploy 10,000 workers and an army of robots working 24/7 to get that bridge up and running. Is anything like that even remotely possible in the United States anymore? Do we even have the materials to rebuild that bridge without relying on imports from China?
The federal government may end up fronting the cost of the bridge rebuild but it is certain there will be plenty of work for maritime and other attorneys as to who will ultimately pay for the direct and other costs associated with this bridge catastrophe.
It is likely to take years to sort all of this out in the courts but all of the parties right now (especially the ship's operator) better hope that they have very good insurance. There will be BILLIONS of dollars in liability involved with this incident before it is over.
Of course, leave it to "good old Joe" to be confused about basic facts when he spoke about the incident.
He claimed yesterday that he had been on the Key Bridge "many, many times commuting from the state of Delaware either by train or by car."
The only problem is that no trains have ever gone over that bridge. It had no train tracks.
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| LINK to video https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1772679452759150630 |
Baltimore and Maryland are both populated with loads and loads of true blue Democrat voters.
My humble suggestion is if they are looking for quick results in rebuilding that bridge they might want to consider a guy that spent a lifetime building things and bringing them in on budget.
HINT---That is not the guy pictured above.
Thoughts and prayers to those who lost their lives yesterday and to all who will be impacted by this disaster.
Let's hope that we can quickly determine what caused this incident so that we can learn some important lessons for the future.
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