While the ship that felled the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore suffered a total blackout, such losses of engine power — including near bridges or ports — are hardly a one-off
Around Baltimore alone, ships lost propulsion nearly two dozen times in the three years before the tragedy last month, the Post review found — including a November 2021 incident in which a 981-foot container ship lost propulsion for 15 minutes soon after it passed under the Key Bridge. In 2020, a ship the same size as the Dali lost propulsion “in the vicinity of the Bay Bridge” near Annapolis, records show.
The records on propulsion loss were up to date through March 17, before the incidents involving the Dali and the Qingdao. After reports of the Qingdao incident surfaced on social media, the Coast Guard said the ship suffered a loss of propulsion. In some cases, poor maintenance or deterioration were blamed for faulty equipment. In others, human error was blamed, including one case in which a ship got underway while an engineer was still doing work on the fuel system. In dozens of instances, investigators reported that tugboats had assisted ships to safety after they lost propulsion.
While some of the 424 incidents occurred farther from shore in rivers and bays, in 103 instances, the ships suffered a loss of propulsion near a port, bridge or other infrastructure, according to the Coast Guard records.“Our ports are vulnerable,” said Konrad, who was first to report on the Qingdao incident in New York.
At first, according to the investigation report, the ship remained under control. But water leaking from an engine cooling system turned to steam and tripped a separate alarm, preventing the crew from restarting the engine. As the huge ship lost speed, it began to drift, and — pushed by winds of almost 40 mph — it eventually ran aground.
Jennifer Carpenter, the chief executive of American Waterways Operators, a trade group for tug companies, said that given the diversity of ports in the country, different practices make sense. “It is important to take a port-specific look at what are we trying to do here? What kind of traffic do we have here? How fast are they going? How well are our bridges protected?” Carpenter said. “Those are all things that should go into an analysis.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: AllSidesNow - 🏆 572. / 51 Read more »
Source: adndotcom - 🏆 293. / 63 Read more »
Source: washingtonpost - 🏆 95. / 72 Read more »
Source: wsyx6 - 🏆 444. / 53 Read more »
Source: NBCNewYork - 🏆 270. / 63 Read more »
Source: 9NEWS - 🏆 238. / 63 Read more »