The ship in Baltimore has had problems before, the bridge was pretending to be an accident, experts say

Boat traffic in the Baltimore building is now at a standstill, or the wreckage of the bridge has blocked navigational access to it. Road traffic was diverted to alternative routes, including two tunnels under the Baltimore Bridge. Trucks carrying hazardous materials, but having access to these routes, are expected to slow down freight traffic on Interstate 95.

At the time of the accident, there were 4,900 containers on board the ship Dali piblin, a Synergy spokesperson said. The 95,000-ton six-meter ship, sailing under the Singaporean flag, was operated by Synergy Marine, which leased it to the Danish shipping giant AP Moller-Maersk.

The vessel was built in 2015 and has a varied history. The data indicates at least one or two collisions and several problems with the drive. For example, according to the portal, VesselFinder ran into a stone wall in 2016 while maneuvering to anchor in the port of Antwerp. She suffered damage to the wall and floor, but remained afloat. They then repaired it in the docks. In connection with the stern accident, questions arose regarding the technical condition of the Dali ship.

Records show that last April, a routine safety inspection in San Antonio, Chile found problems with some gauges and thermometers connected to the drive and auxiliary machinery. This was stated by the Tokyo MoU organization, which deals with the safety of non-transportation.

These problems, however, were not the reason for stopping its operation. Thus, a standard inspection of the vessel carried out by the American warship at the end of the year did not find any deficiencies, as shown by the Equasis database.

Records and legal testimony show that the structural integrity of the Dali and the functionality of its equipment were valid at the time of the Baltimore accident, the Singaporean government said in its statement. The year thus passed through two separate inspections in foreign farms in June and August of the year. The data shows that prior to departure from Baltimore, technicians repaired a faulty fuel pressure monitor.

Translated into English

The construction of the bridge structure with the Baltimore oak Patapsco took more than five years. Its sound only a few seconds. The extent of the damage and the importance of the bridge can be described as one of the worst infrastructure failures in the US in the past decade, according to Bloomberg.

Completed in 1977, the Francis Scott Key Bridge spans Interstate 695 spanning Baltimore, Maryland. The consequences of the accident will be felt in the entire Baltimore region and in the US economy for years to come.

This was made possible by the large volume of trade. 35 million vehicles have crossed the bridge. In addition to its role as a connecting link for pedestrians, the road is part of a complex network of transportation and logistics infrastructure surrounding the Baltimore area. That year clearance of more than 10 million tons of deposits.

The bridge is named after the author of the text of the American anthem Star-Spangled Banner, which commemorates the nearby battle of Baltimore for wolves in 1812. It was then the longest continuous bridge in the world. This is a type of structure with spreaders attached along the entire length of the structure.

This makes it possible to bridge the distance with the use of a small amount of material, not if we relied on those bridges that would be completely independent of each other, said Rachel Sangreeov from the Faculty of Civil Engineering at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, according to Bloomberg.

The disadvantage of this construction is that when one of the saws is hit, it causes the whole structure to collapse. The engineer added that the bridge underwent its last inspection in May 2021, and the US Federal Highway Administration approved traffic on it, even when it showed minor problems, such as cracks. The collapse of the structure was the result of it having to bear a load it was not designed for, Sangreeov added

What will be long?

The bridge was built before the introduction of the latest regulations on the protection of bridge saws, which are supposed to reduce the effects of similar accidents. Today, underwater concrete structures can absorb the energy of a ship collision, but the bridge in Baltimore lacked such protection. According to Wesley Cook, a professor of civil engineering at the University of New Mexico, all modern bridges are equipped with certain precautions to prevent similar disasters.

Regardless of the type of bridge, when an object this large falls into it at once, it doesn’t matter what condition it’s in, Cook said. Note that bridge structures are usually very sensitive in this regard.

A damaged bridge caused by a ship collision is rare, but it has catastrophic consequences: From 2018, it was reported that between 1960 and 2015 there were fifty-five so-called accidents around the world, which resulted in a total of 342 deaths. The most famous crash is the crash of a container ship into the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in 1980 in Tampa Bay, Florida.

At that time, 35 people died in accidents. As a result of this network, federal regulations for bridges in the US have become stricter. Clem had to improve their protection against shipwrecks, including reinforced piles and warning systems for motorists.

In the first 2003 US survey, the Baltimore Bridge was identified as one of several American bridges prone to ship collisions, with only one incident in the past. The collapse of the Tampa bridge in 1980 could thus indicate what will happen to the bridge in Baltimore dl:

The bridge was rebuilt with additional saw protection and reopened to motorists in 1987, seven years after it was destroyed, Bloomberg concluded.