Damn, Francis Scott Key Brridge Just Collapsed After a Cargo Ship Collided With It

[Pudly76]

Here is the thing. We don't hear about this stuff, because it is not important. BUT, when something big happens, the 1.5 million writers looking to make a buck, start spamming us with every single occurrence.

Example: After the door plug blew out of that Alaska airlines jet, I cannot open my web browser without seeing an airline/airplane story nearly every single day. If a toilet get plugged it is now a headline.

I think you’re overstating the airline thingy. They have always reported planes being rerouted, long before the AA incident. As far as what you notice, that could be your own heightened awareness of the topic.

If the NY cargo ship didn’t have tugs attached and more available, it too had a good chance of hitting the bridge.

 

[Pudly76]

Here is the thing. We don't hear about this stuff, because it is not important. BUT, when something big happens, the 1.5 million writers looking to make a buck, start spamming us with every single occurrence.

Example: After the door plug blew out of that Alaska airlines jet, I cannot open my web browser without seeing an airline/airplane story nearly every single day. If a toilet get plugged it is now a headline.

 

[Trojan JST]

Gross underestimation.

"The Port of Baltimore is a critical area for America's economy and is ranked as the largest vehicle-handling port in the country. The bridge's collapse on Tuesday immediately blocked shipping lanes and forced the indefinite closure of the port.

The economic impact of the bridge's collapse was estimated to be $2 million in wages a day and 8,000 jobs.

Between $100 million and $200 million of cargo passes through the port every day. About 4,000 commercial trucks use the bridge daily, and detours are expected to increase delivery times and fuel costs, according to Oxford Economics."

"It's too early to determine how long the port will be closed, Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul J. Wiedefeld told reporters Tuesday."

The collapse of the Key Bridge is a global crisis," Moore said at a Wednesday briefing. "The national economy and the world's economy depends on the Port of Baltimore," he added. The port handles more cars and more farm equipment than any other port in the country."

The port supports more than 15,000 direct jobs and more than 139,000 indirect jobs connected to the port, generating almost $3.3 billion in total personal income. It's closer to the Midwest than any other East Coast port and is within an overnight drive's distance from one-third of the country's population.

Several major companies — including Amazon, FedEx and BMW — have distribution warehouses and other facilities at an industrial park at the north end of the bridge, Bloomberg reported."

"Considering the bridge's role in facilitating interstate commerce and its position as part of the I-695 corridor, a major link in the Interstate 95 network, the disruption will snarl freight movements and create logistical challenges. This will lead to delays heading into Easter weekend and in the longer term, as well as increased costs for shipping and transportation industries, which will likely be passed on to consumers still feeling the lingering impacts of inflation.

Positioned near the Chesapeake Bay, the Port of Baltimore is strategically located near inland markets and serves as an important access point to an extensive network of highways and railways. The port is a critical contributor to the state's economy, supporting thousands of jobs directly related to port operations and many more in related sectors, including logistics, manufacturing and retail.

The port’s location facilitates the efficient distribution of goods to the economically vital Mid-Atlantic region and beyond. Importantly, the Panama Canal was expanded in 2016, thus allowing larger ships from Asia to move through and ultimately dock at Baltimore’s deep 50-foot shipping channel and port. This stretch of roadway, I-695, was an alternate route for oversized vehicles as well as hazardous material that are not allowed to transit through the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel for safety reasons."


With all due respect, The Wire isn't the place to gauge true economic impact of a disaster of this magnitude. It's why they call it a "ripple effect".

Well said.

 

[Trojan JST]

The ship had no rudder. It was drifting. It wasn’t aimed at the bridge on purpose. It was heading towards the bridge and lost power, so it has absolutely nothing to do with the GPS system.

This doesn’t really effect our infrastructure that much if you use some actual reason. Yes, it will affect the ships that are stuck in the harbor, but I’m willing to bet there are more goods from China on those ships than American.

So the Port of Baltimore will be closed for a few months, but that isn’t really a big deal. Baltimore is actually the one port on the east coast that we can lose the easiest, because it’s by far the hardest one to get in and out of. Every other major port on the east coast is a pretty much easy turn around. They did a whole season on the Wire that was party based on The Port of Baltimore being hard to access. Ships have to divert up the whole length of the Chesapeake Bay and then turn around and go back down the whole length to get back into the open ocean. All this will do is make ports like Jacksonville, Savannah, Philadelphia and New York busier.

Baltimore isn’t even in the top 50 busiest ports in the world, by any metric.Long Beach/ Los Angeles is the only one in the top 10 and New York Savannah and Houston are the only US ports in the Top 50. China has 6 in the top 10 and 16 in the top 50.

@BlemBlam

Rewatch the video of this accident…


The lights and power go out twice, as if the ship’s crew is attempting to “reset” and gain control of the ship’s steering controls.

This is (in my opinion) similar to the same trajectory as the 9/11 planes headed into N.Y.’s Twin Towers. The ship DIDN’T “drift into” the bridge… The ship made a “Hard” RIGHT hand turn, directly INTO the bridge’s support.

A ship’s captian couldn’t have tried to do a better job of striking the bridge’s support if that was their intent.

I’m ONLY saying… This (currently listed as an) accident needs to be throughly investigated, NOTHING more. (at this time)

 

[USCFB]

I’ve captained ships into tight ports like Baltimore, and this is how captains like me work with harbor pilots to avoid deadly collisions (theconversation.com)