What has always amazed me about those engines is how they can isolate a cylinder and do all kinds of work on it while the engine is running. I've never seen it done but always just missed it, seemed like. They tend to do that kind of work on long uninterrupted voyages if they've got all the parts.
If they were going to Sri Lanka, they were probably carrying ag parts and stuff like that. Maybe some govt surplus rice, I dunno. I can't imagine what the Sri Lankans could pay US prices for.
In 2022, America exported $396M to Sri Lanka. The main products USA exported to Sri Lanka are Soybean Meal ($80M), Metallic Yarn ($19.5M), and Petroleum Gas ($13.7M).
tradingeconomics.com
Thanks for looking; I was just idly guessing while recuperating from an outpatient procedure earlier today. I never would've guessed metallic yarn or LPG. You'd think the Sri Lankans would buy LPG from India, but I guess they don't get along so well.In 2022, America exported $396M to Sri Lanka. The main products USA exported to Sri Lanka are Soybean Meal ($80M), Metallic Yarn ($19.5M), and Petroleum Gas ($13.7M).
More/different numbers here:
Sri Lanka Imports from United States - 2024 Data 2025 Forecast 1990-2023 Historical
Sri Lanka Imports from United States was US$513.37 Million during 2023, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade. Sri Lanka Imports from United States - data, historical chart and statistics - was last updated on April of 2024.
Like 98 percent of it globally is used for animal food.
One anchor was dropped, they did not have time to drop the one on the opposite side of the ship.
Thank you!
At a minimum it's evidence that suggests that whatever actions the crew did or didn't take were exactly the wrong actions...and appear to have contributed to driving the ship directly toward the bridge's support...
Yes the pier was damaged severely, but it stopped the ship. It does not look like the hull went past it. So if there had been another sacrificial pier like say 50 feet in front of the one supporting the bridge then the one supporting the bridge would not have been struck at all. I am not sure why that is such a hard concept for people. The moral is that a protective structure some distance from and yet around the critical pier would have saved the day.
QFT
They are awesome. One of my classmates was on one that blew an injector. They pulled the head, engaged the jacking gear and the chief rode the piston checking for damage to the cylinder. You can’t appreciate their size until you are standing in the engine room next to them.
You wouldn't want to drop the starboard anchor. Moving at 7+ knots the anchor wasn't meant to stop the vessel (just going to drag) it was meant to swing the bow to port (back into the channel),
Last night I listened to an engineer who builds bridges, he was astounded at how quickly it all came down "I mean it looked like it was made out of tinker toys!" was his comment. Even he was shocked at the speed it came down.
Excellent analysisSal Mercogliano (WGOW Shipping)
@mercoglianos
Great comments from a former Maersk Chief Engineer.
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It looks like very little of the cargo was damaged. I am gonna guess that they could get that boat back to port in very short time if they wanted to. After they lift the steal trusses off from it. Then they will need to unload it. Hopefully they save any perishables like food. But past experience with authority type people says they won't.
Take a look at all that protection around the power pole, and compare that to NOTHING protecting the bridge. It seems we have idiots running the asylum. I realize the power poles went in after regulations changed, but someone with authority should've realized we should be protecting the mutil-billion dollar bridge better than we were protecting the power pole right beside it.
I don't question anything but the final speed. This guy says it hit at nine knots, but telemetry says it was two or less.
www.foxnews.com
But it also held together remarkably well. The bridge is in big chunks, not all to flinders.
Someone may have indeed recognized that. The tough part is selling this idea to politicians, to pass a budget that includes fixing this. That doesn't sound like something that's going to resonate much. That's why our infrastructure is in such rocky shape.
Yeah, gravity does that when you cut the feet out from under. But it's in big chunks. That's good construction.That bridge went down like a ten dollar hooker . . .
Ah, that makes sense. Watching the press conference now; the recorder showed the order was for port anchor only.
So the ship was moving straight in the center of the channel. Then they lost power and steerage. So why did it turn on a direct course to the bridge pier?
It didn't turn on a direct course to the pier, and it didn't stay straight to the pier. It turned continuously right until they got a little rudder control just at the end, and then it started to turn back to the left. You can see it start to go back left in the super-speedy video. Unfortunately, the sum of all that was to end up at the pier.
Immigration is a huge fiasco, but at this moment I'm honestly not concerned about the status of the workers. They had *nothing* to do with the accident, and supposedly they had no warning because they didn't have walkie-talkies. *Anyone* out on a jobsite like that should have means of communication.The companies that use the Baltimore port have already started implementing alternate shipping plans. I saw dozens of semi-trucks hauling flatbed trailers with CaseIH farm tractors of some variety and some Caterpillar (I think) bulldozers out of the Dundalk/Seagirt terminal side of the port. They were heading towards I-95 enroute to ?? (obviously some other port)
And yes you can tell the workers were all most likely illegals. You can tell by the words the local news channels are using and Not-using. "Oh there were FROM Dundalk and Baltimore..." But in the interview with family members they all say they are FROM Mexico/Central America. So the news is trying to make you feel sorry for the "local boys".
"They were here, striving for the American dream..." blah blah blah.
And they interviewed some of the people on that cruise ship that left Baltimore on I think Sunday and obviously can't get back in. The plan is to come back to Virginia Beach and shuttle bus them back up here. Of course some people are already bitching about that plan "That's all they are going to do? That's NOT good enough." So expect lawsuits all around. //sigh//
If that is the case, and they wanted to get away with not fixing it, (not condoning that) the whole crew should have been on duty. The aux steering and anchor systems should have been maned, all generators should have been running and crew should have been at the electrical breakers. Refrigerated boxes could have been taken offline temporarily until they were out of the port. It looked like the aux generator did not start until after the first power failure.Dali cargo ship suffered 'severe electrical problem' while docked in Baltimore days prior to bridge collapse crash that saw it suffer 'total power failure, loss of engine failure', port worker says
Dali cargo ship suffered 'severe electrical problem' while docked
The Dali cargo ship which smashed into the Key Bridge suffered a 'severe electrical problem' while docked in Baltimore days before, according to a port worker.www.dailymail.co.uk
By Laura Parnaby For Dailymail.Com
- Julie Mitchell, co-administrator of Container Royalty, told CNN the ship was anchored at the port for at least 48 hours prior to the deadly crash
- Mitchell explained that refrigerated boxes tripped breakers on board the ship on several occasions, and mechanics had been trying to fix the issue
- The 1.6-mile Key Bridge partially collapsed after the cargo shipping container vessel crashed into one of its support structures just before 1:30 a.m. Tuesday
Published: 15:07 EDT, 27 March 2024 | Updated: 15:29 EDT, 27 March 2024
The Dali cargo ship which smashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge suffered a 'severe electrical problem' while docked in Baltimore days before, according to a port worker.
Julie Mitchell, co-administrator of Container Royalty, a company which tracks cargo, told CNN the ship was anchored at the port for at least 48 hours prior to the deadly crash.
'And those two days, they were having serious power outages… they had a severe electrical problem,' Mitchell told the broadcaster. 'It was total power failure, loss of engine power, everything.'
Mitchell explained that refrigerated boxes tripped breakers on board the ship on several occasions, and mechanics had been trying to fix the issue. She said she didn't know whether the problem had been fixed when the ship set off.
The 1.6-mile Key Bridge partially collapsed after the cargo shipping container vessel crashed into one of its support structures just before 1:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore said the ship's crew notified officials that it had lost power in the moments before the collision.
Mitchell told CNN that major power problems on board large vessels like the Dali are 'not really that common at all', describing the freak incident as 'very rare'.
'They shouldn't have let the ship leave port until they got it on under control,' she said.
Six workers who were on the bridge, pouring concrete to fix potholes as part of a graveyard shift remain missing and are presumed dead.
It has been widely reported that the Dali suffered a loss in propulsion which caused steering issues in the lead-up to the crash that caused the iconic bridge to collapse like a 'house of cards.'
One officer on the Dali also said that before the crash, the engines 'coughed and then stopped.' There was not enough time before the ship hit the bridge to drop anchors prompting the vessel to drift.
'The vessel went dead, no steering power and no electronics... The smell of burned fuel was everywhere in the engine room and it was pitch black,' the officer said.
When a ship such as the Dali loses power, backup generators kick in but they do not fulfill all of the same functions as the main power, Pagoulatos said.
In 2016, the Dali was involved in an accident in the port of Antwerp.
The Antwerp port authorities said the container ship Dali hit a quay on July 11, 2016, as it tried to exit the North Sea container terminal.
A 2016 inspection of the vessel conducted in Antwerp found it had a structural issue, which was stated as 'hull damage impairing its seaworthiness,' according to data published on Equasis, a public database for the shipping industry.
Inspectors found a problem with the Dali's machinery in June, but a more recent examination did not identify any deficiencies, according to the shipping information system Equasis.
The port authorities said the ship had remained at the dock for repairs for some time after the incident.
'As a general rule, these accidents are investigated and ships are only allowed to leave after experts have determined it is safe for them to do so,' a spokesperson for Antwerp port told Reuters.
Video footage on social media showed the vessel slamming into the bridge in darkness, the headlights of vehicles visible on the span as it crashed into the water and the ship caught fire.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said closure of one of the country's busiest shipping lanes until further notice would have a 'major and protracted impact to supply chains.'
The Port of Baltimore handles more automobile cargo than any other U.S. port - more than 750,000 vehicles in 2022, according to port data.
That's what I've been trying to say all day --- the anchor was at the very very front, so it stabilized the front and allowed the back end to keep traveling the same speed, which equaled a turn towards the bridge support.
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