I'd be very interested how often these lose power. Do they operate on different power in port like some sort of battery versus fuel? I mean these boats go over huge distances regularly and I can't imagine they are often stranded in the middle of the ocean causing massive cost and delay, or something would be changed about them.
First, its massive vertical supports are positioned much closer to land than the Key Bridge's—1,000 feet away from the harbor's navigation channel—making them considerably less likely to be hit by an errant vessel. The towers also are surrounded by rock islands, which would force any ship heading toward the supports to run aground before striking the tower. Additional safety projects have further hardened protections, even adding an air gap sensor system that detects vertical clearances between the bridge and large vessels passing underneath.
Maybe this should have been a thing everywhere too. Sure, it's not going to be perfect, but it sure seems that the one in Baltimore ran into the bridge without any hinderance.
The only reason why this even made the news, is because of what happened in Baltimore. Prior to that, it's a non-story. "Container Ship briefly loses power, tugboats do their job and stabilize it." isn't much of a headline.
Yeah, my first thought when I started reading into maritime/port SOP regarding Baltimore was where were the tugboats, why did they leave, and if they were supposed to leave why is it procedure to let the ship go free near a difficult bridge.
I'd be very interested how often these lose power. Do they operate on different power in port like some sort of battery versus fuel? I mean these boats go over huge distances regularly and I can't imagine they are often stranded in the middle of the ocean causing massive cost and delay, or something would be changed about them.
Maybe this should have been a thing everywhere too. Sure, it's not going to be perfect, but it sure seems that the one in Baltimore ran into the bridge without any hinderance.
More often than you think.
The only reason why this even made the news, is because of what happened in Baltimore. Prior to that, it's a non-story. "Container Ship briefly loses power, tugboats do their job and stabilize it." isn't much of a headline.
Yeah, my first thought when I started reading into maritime/port SOP regarding Baltimore was where were the tugboats, why did they leave, and if they were supposed to leave why is it procedure to let the ship go free near a difficult bridge.