Posted on 03/27/2024 12:53:12 PM PDT by rxsid
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
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.
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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'.
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Never heard anything....I did see the contrails....Just usual for this area...
Maybe that's a problem.
"Mechanics" trying to troubeshoot a problem that an electronics/electrical technician, electro-mechanical technician or electrician should have been working on.
Modern ships, cars, trucks, etc., have become basically CNC machines that move.
If you don't understand ALL of the systems, feedback loops, motor drives, hydraulics, electronics, pneumatics, mechanics, computers, PLCs, etc., and how they interact, you will miss a LOT in attempting to troubleshoot.
I've been thinking that since this story broke, in addition I understand it's a very sandy bottom in the area and the ship was doing 8 Knots considered fast for the size and position. A ship of that size might take 2 miles to stop.
Also seeing the black smoke pumping out just before hitting the bridge I'm assuming they were full throttle reverse, the black box exam should prove that.
The whole container shipping industry is also the most abusive industry towards most of its workers, who live and work on the ships for months at a time, with no visas to go ashore in the ports they stop at, and usually waiting till they make harbor at a designated port before they get paid, if they make it to that port. Then when failiures happen crews get stranded on board as the registered owner, the operator, and some foreign country they are stranded offshore of argue about who must pay what to whom.
The U.S. gave up very much control of the situation when it quit requiring ships using U.S. ports to be U.S. flagged ships. The country of registry is supposed to have most of the authority over the owners/operators of the ship.
These are the countries with the most ships in their registry:
—————Gross tonnage-Deadweight tonnage—Vessel count
Panama——225,002,749——333,442,374————9,367
Liberia-——171,472,522——270,181,504————4,027
Marshall——162,694,278——261,236,163————4,163
Islands
Hong Kong-128,080,233——202,679,275————2,707
Singapore-—97,816,315——145,871,414————4,962
Malta———80,706,544——115,614,647————2,637
Bahamas——65,445,388-——80,190,369————1,512
China———58,261,571-——87,463,456————4,881
Greece-——40,320,446-——70,047,642————1,545
Japan———29,697,186-——44,799,445————3,846
And here are top container shipping companies with only one U.S. company ranked 28 out of the top 30:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_container_shipping_companies
And what should piss Americans off about it all is exports and imports are so important to our economy, yet we have so little say so in most of getting it done.
Working oil and gas shipping in Galveston/Houston we are well aware of the hazards. Check out this song... https://www.google.com/search?q=keep+the+wolves+away+lyrics&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS955US955&oq=Keep+the+wlves+away&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCQgCEAAYDRiABDIGCAAQRRg5MgkIARAuGA0YgAQyCQgCEAAYDRiABDIJCAMQABgNGIAEMgkIBBAAGA0YgAQyCQgFEAAYDRiABDIJCAYQABgNGIAEMgkIBxAAGA0YgAQyCQgIEAAYDRiABNIBCTExNDA1ajBqNKgCALACAQ&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
they never dropped anchor.
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They did drop the port anchor. There is an image of the ship under the bridge wreckage with the port anchor down.
Dropping an anchor from a 95,000 ton ship going 7-10kts and expecting it to do something is a fools errand.
Anchors are usually dropped a 1/2 kt at the fastest. Most are dropped when the ship/boat loses all way.
Light duty - nothing major.
Gen Flynn, a noted Maritime authority?
No.
But I do have the ability to listen to the people that do this everyday.
Not being in the maritime shipping industry in any capacity, I can't say what the protocol is but...I'm surprised this ship didn't undergo a major, thorough inspection after having some 2 days of "serious" electrical issues that directly impacted major ship systems.
The ship underwent 27 inspections since the Dali came into service in 2016. There were no issues until June, when Chilean authorities found deficiencies in propulsion and the auxiliary machinery.DHS said the Dali lost propulsion as it left Baltimore Harbor, which makes the June inspection particularly interesting.
27 inspections in 8 years? Seems this ship (like other similar ships?) get inspected in each port. Was that done in Baltimore? Cleared prior to these major alleged electrical issues? Or, was it subsequently inspected....and cleared?
Either this is a one in a [insert large number here] coincidence or this is something else.
Are there any 3rd party investigatory teams that can/will look into this? I've got 0% trust this government will be truthful and forthright.
The ship turned into the bridge. This is a Terrorist attack!
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Tinfoil goes on sale at your local grocers tomorrow.
It turned right because the prop was turning right (forward) - the rudder was out of commission at that point - pushing the ship to the right.
Cement islands deflectors well up and downstream of piers??
"Synergy Marine, the Singapore company that operates the Dali, said it was being controlled by two Baltimore port pilots at the time of the collision."
First thing to do when experiencing loss of maneuvering power. Every sailor knows that.
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Sailors on Tupperware would never drop anchor at speed. If they want to keep the anchor and winch attached to the boat. The anchor would fly over the bottom until it caught on something, which in turn would yank the boat around, capsizing the boat & ripping the whole anchor system off the boat.
On a 95,000 ton ship doing 7-10kts, its a joke. All it would do is slow the boat a bit over the next mile or so, when it would lose way.
Some one on another thread did the math - the weight of the ship and the speed of the ship equaled a significant amount of TNT tonnage.
would 2-7 kts of breeze and ~0.2-2 kts of current cause a ship of that size and weight to change course that drastically in that short of a distance
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YES definitely - looks like small numbers, but on the water they are significant - especially on ships that size.
The smoke was the engine self destructing ... the air and other things needed to make it work, weren’t
This is absolutely 100% NOT TRUE. Geeezzz...how hard is it to look for photos of the ship stuck on the bridge debris? There are plenty that show the port anchor was dropped. Can't see the starboard anchor because of debris.
I assumed it was sarcasm. Apparently not...
I served on a navy ship some 40 years ago as a worker bee. There is a deployment cycle for them. Salt water and humidity is rather invasive. Nobody knows what happened yet, but faulty cabling could be be an issue in a 10 year old vessel...
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