Posted on 03/26/2024 6:22:01 PM PDT by bitt
Guest editorial by Jim Nelles:
The video footage of the Singaporean-flagged cargo vessel, the Dali, crashing into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore is truly horrifying.
Video footage shows the ship’s lights flickering on and off, indicating it lost power shortly before crashing into the bridge’s stanchion. The video also shows black smoke coming from the ship’s exhaust vents, indicating that the crew was trying to restart diesel engines.
Unfortunately, eight workers were performing construction on the bridge at the time of collapse, only two of whom were rescued. Given the temperatures of the Patapsco River, they must be presumed deceased. In addition, a number of cars were on the bridge when it collapsed.
The ship issued a mayday prior to hitting the bridge, which allowed Maryland Transportation authorities to stop traffic on the bridge, saving countless lives.
However, this begs the question, why did the ship not drop anchor upon losing power, as is standard protocol when a ship is in what is called restricted maneuvering conditions. Upon losing power, the ship’s personnel should have dropped anchor.
Regardless of the ship failing to follow protocol, the disaster should serve as a warning about the security of our ports.
The port of Baltimore is now closed. The port handled 52.3 million tons of international cargo, worth approximately $80.8 billion in 2023. The port supports more than “15,000 direct jobs and more than 139,000 indirect jobs, generating more than $3 billion in total personal income.”
The port handled a record amount of foreign cargo last year, and it was the 17th biggest port in the nation overall in 2021, ranked by total tons, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
The port was the largest importer of trucks and light vehicles in 2023, with approximately 750,000 cars and light trucks entering the port in 2023.
Beyond that, an estimated 12.4 million vehicles cross the Francis Scott Key Bridge every year, nearly 34,000 per day.
The economic impact of this bridge collapse is beyond measure.
As of Tuesday morning, more than 40 ships are stuck inside of the harbor.
Imagine a similar accident in New York, collapsing the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, blocking the entrance to the ports of New York and New Jersey, which moved nearly 9.5 million containers in 2022.
In addition, Synergy Marine Group, the company that operates the vessel, is a huge fan of DEI, claiming that they “realize that the benefits of diversity are best achieved by fostering greater inclusion and belonging.
Perhaps they should be focusing on navigation, and not Diversity. To paraphrase Elon Musk’s interview with Don Lemon, DEI can lead to DIE.
So what is to be done?
First, the nation’s Secretary of Transportation, who has been missing in action, needs to ensure that all ships entering American ports are properly manned and that they follow standard protocols when entering our waters.
Second, protocols need to be formalized into law, not just standard practice.
Last, the U.S. Coast Guard must ensure the safety of our ports, even at the risk of impacting commerce. This disaster has become a blueprint for terrorists looking to destroy our nation’s economy.
Jim Nelles is a supply chain consultant based and political analyst in Chicago, IL. He has served as a Chief Procurement Officer, Chief Supply Chain Officer, and a Chief Operations Officer for multiple companies. He has a BA from Northwestern University in Economics and French as well as a Masters in Management from the JL Kellogg Graduate School of Business.
Just wondered if they possibly could have stacked a few more containers on that ship! /s
I think what you mean to say is "He's busy BLOWING his MALE WIFE!"
I'll wait for the investigation to play out.
I can't believe it. Someone who makes a TRUE COMMON SENSE statement in the midst of a mountain of conjecture!
Congratulations Drew for displaying some basic sanity!
If you look at the als data, two tugboat did move the. Zip out of its berth, and then helped maneuver it into the channel.
I’ve sailed a lot, and keep a good distance from these big container ships, but I’ve never seen one out in a main channel being escorted by a tug if it was capable of sailing under its own power.
Didn’t Earn It
Soft targets
Blow that man down?
This is going to turn into money for Philadelphia, maybe housing illegals (and arranging for them to vote) . . . all because of the new stresses that require the Philadelphia port to do more.
You can already see the Democrat wheels turning on how to turn this into electoral votes.
There are photos that show the port anchor was dropped. Here's one:
https://gcaptain.com/ship-lost-control-before-hitting-baltimore-bridge/
Ship Lost Control Before Hitting Baltimore Bridge
John Konrad
The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed early today after the large containerships Dali struck a primary support column. Two individuals were rescued, one is seriously injured, and authorities estimate that seven people are currently missing, though the number could be higher. This incident represents the most severe US bridge collision since the Tampa Skyway Bridge disaster in 1980. The event occurred in the early morning hours as the ship was leaving the port under pilotage.
Agencies are reporting the containership Dali, which collided with a Baltimore bridge on Tuesday, “lost propulsion” while exiting the port. The crew on board alerted Maryland officials that they had lost control of the vessel, as reported by ABC News, citing an unclassified U.S. intelligence report.
“The vessel notified the MD Department of Transportation (MDOT) that they had lost control and a collision with the bridge was possible,” ABC quoted the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s report as saying. “The vessel struck the bridge, causing a complete collapse.”
According to Marine Traffic the ship departed the Seagirt Marine Terminal in the Port of Baltimore at approximately 00:30 local time, sailed northwest past the Nuclear Ship Savanah then turned southeast to depart the harbor, released the tugboats, and collided with the bridge at approximately 01:38.
...more
I was listening to a conservative talk radio station early in the morning. A caller who was retired Navy came on and explained that Baltimore Harbor seabed is sand, not rocky, so there would be no purchase for the anchor they dropped. It would just pull right out.
EXCELLENT video and analysis.
Looking at all that, one has to wonder why a bridge was constructed so the pilings were so close to the channel the ships went up.
It seems like any one could figure out this was a recipe for disaster.
This collision and collapse of the bridge was a metaphysical certitude, given the traffic volume and incredible size of modern cargo ships. Hundreds or thousands of these ships passing under the bridge per year...the odds eventually will win out.
One wonders why no one ever thought of that, given the half century+ age of the bridge. Those supports should have been previously retrofitted with this eventuality in mind. But now we are talking about government....where ineptitude is the rule of the day.
Apparently they did drop an anchor.
There would have been a harbor pilot on the bridge, so there’s that.
I don’t know if the, actually, drive the ship.
My first thought was this was terrorism, or more so assymetric warfare, where the goal was not a mass casualty event, but something else.
The Russia / China / Iran axis wants a war with the US, while Pedo Joe is in office.
This fits in, well with that plan.
The goal may have simply been testing the waters.
What a joke? Why not get a dozen tugs with winches and grappling hooks and open the port up in a day for ship travel. Hook the bridge structure and drag the remains out to sea or to shore and recover it for recycle. This would open the port up in hours. Why spend months talking about it and going through contracts and bids. Maybe Butt-boy wants to demonstrate control? This clown has done nothing but line the pockets of homo pedo friends.
Assuming it's operation is manual, which I'm sure it's not. It's not like throwing an anchor overboard on a fishing boat.......
There are enough tugs on the East Coast between Boston and Nofolk that could drag Long Island up to Boston and the population wouldn’t know they left NY.
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