MARYLAND: Ship Strikes Bridge and It Collapses

[Hogmann]

NTSB Preliminary report is out.
FROM GCAPTAIN.COM

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has published its preliminary report into the catastrophic incident involving the Singapore-flagged cargo vessel Dali and the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on March 26, 2024.

The collapse effectively closed the Port of Baltimore to ship traffic, before salvage crews were able to open temporary channels allowing for limited navigation in and out of Baltimore Harbor.

According to the report, which does not include any analysis or conclusions, the Dali lost electrical power and propulsion, causing it to strike the bridge and resulting in a portion of the bridge collapsing.

Seven road maintenance crew members and one inspector were present on the bridge during the incident. Tragically, six crew members lost their lives, one survived with severe injuries, while the inspector escaped unscathed. A crew member aboard the Dali also sustained minor injuries.

The U.S. Coast Guard has classified the accident as a major marine casualty, with the NTSB leading the safety investigation.

The preliminary report chronologically traces the events leading up to the accident.

At about 0005, a senior pilot and an apprentice boarded the Dali, which was about to depart from Seagirt Marine Terminal to Colombo, Sri Lanka, carrying 4,680 containers. The captain reported the ship was in good working order during the master/pilot exchange.

The sequence of events quickly took a turn for the worse as the Dali experienced two electrical blackouts during its approach to the bridge.
The first blackout occurred as the ship was approximately 0.6 miles from the Key Bridge, when electrical breakers that fed most of the vessel’s equipment and lighting unexpectedly tripped. This resulted in an automatic shutdown of the main propulsion diesel engine and the halting of all three steering pumps, leaving the vessel traveling at a speed over ground of 9.0 knots without any means of steering or propulsion.

While the Dali’s crew managed to restore electrical power briefly, a second blackout occurred when the ship was only 0.2 miles from the bridge, causing a complete loss of electrical power on the vessel. Despite attempts to restore power and drop anchor, the crew was unable to regain control over the vessel’s propulsion.

The Dali struck pier no. 17 of the Key Bridge at 0129:10 while traveling at approximately 6.5 knots, leading to the collapse of six spans of the bridge.

Events Prior to the Accident

The NTSB report also provided a background on the Dali and key events prior to the accident.

The ship arrived in the U.S. from Sri Lanka on March 19, 2024, and made port calls in Newark, New Jersey (March 19-21), and Norfolk, Virginia (March 22-23), before mooring at the Seagirt Marine Terminal in Baltimore Harbor early on March 23.

In-Port Blackouts

The day before the accident, the Dali had experienced two in-port blackouts due to a blocked engine exhaust damper and insufficient fuel pressure. The crew had switched the main electrical bus configuration, which was in use when the ship departed. The NTSB is now investigating the electrical configuration and its potential impacts on the accident voyage.

Fuel Testing

As for fuel testing, the Dali switched to low-sulfur marine gas oil (LSMGO) five days before the accident. Post-accident fuel samples taken from the LSMGO in use and from all fuel tanks complied with international standards and regulations, ruling out fuel quality as a contributing factor to the accident.

The release of the preliminary report comes a day after salvage crews used small charges to make precision cuts in the bridge truss sitting on top of the Dali’s bow, which will allow for a refloating attempt to take place sometime this week.

Officials anticipate opening the 50-foot-deep federal channel by next month.

The FBI opened a criminal probe into the collapse in April.

The NTSB’s preliminary report can be found here.

https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/...Report%203.pdf

[kellyhound]

The trapped cargo ship Dali will “hopefully” be refloated this week after authorities set off charges at a key portion of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on Monday evening, an official said.

The charges helped demolish a portion of the bridge wreckage that was resting on the ship – a move meant to help free the vessel, nearly seven weeks after it struck the bridge and caused the span to collapse. During the planned detonation, a chunk of the collapsed structure appeared to fall away from the ship and into the water, though a portion of wreckage remained on top of the ship, video showed.

Officials are “very pleased” with the demolition but will be conducting surveys with divers to make sure nothing fell and damaged the hull of the cargo vessel, US Army Corps of Engineers Col. Estee Pinchasin told reporters. Additionally, before the ship can be refloated, officials must verify that all the charges went off, Pinchasin said.

A loud explosion rung out and dark plumes of smoke surrounded the wreckage after the charges were set off.

A “tremendous amount of steel” was removed from the Dali, Pinchasin said. Authorities would now examine how the remaining debris sat on the bow of the ship, the colonel said. While teams are prepared to move the remaining wreckage, Pinchasin doesn’t believe more explosives will be used, she said.

The demolition, which included using small explosives to break apart a massive chunk of the Baltimore bridge that collapsed on a cargo ship nearly seven weeks ago, was originally set for Saturday, but bad weather forced officials to push the operation to Sunday before it was eventually rescheduled for Monday, the Coast Guard said.

After necessary assessments and surveys, the plan is to remove ballast to make the ship buoyant on its own and then use four tugboats to pull it out into the channel and escort it to the pier, US Coast Guard Capt. David O’Connell said.

Additional wreckage and containers will be removed from the Dali at the pier and the ship will undergo necessary, temporary repairs before more permanent ones can be made.

“Hopefully we’re going to refloat the Dali in the next few days. We still anticipate to be on time to open full channel by the end of the month,” O’Connell said.

The 213-million-pound Dali cargo ship, veered off course March 26 and struck a pillar of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing the bridge to fall into the Patapsco River below.

[ben9763]

I live in the area and according to a news report that ship was having trouble at the dock before it even left port. the report said that they were having trouble with their electrical systems. that ship should never have been allowed to leave the port.