new York TimesAccording to reports, on the 26th, the Key Bridge in Baltimore Harbor was hit and broken by the giant container ship Dali. Additionally, on February 22, a container ship struck and broke the foundation of a bridge in Guangzhou, China, raising doubts and concerns about safety standards. Ships are getting bigger and bigger, and are bridges around the world able to withstand a collision in the event of a collision.
The scale of the incident involving the Guangzhou Port container ship collision was much smaller than that of the Baltimore Port bridge that collided with the Maersk Line container ship. However, the overturned container ship collided with a two-lane bridge and the vehicle also crashed. Fall; Five people died in the accident, Chinese officials said.
The two bridge collisions have also raised questions about whether more ships should be needed to be able to anchor quickly when faced with a bridge emergency, and whether more cargo ships should be able to move in and out of ports. Must require tug to go.
There has been no final report on the Guangzhou bridge collision, while US authorities have just begun an investigation into the Baltimore incident. Anti-ship collision equipment is standard equipment to protect bridge piers in major waterways around the world, including the Baltimore Harbor Waterway.New York CityVerrazzano Bridge(Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge) has a massive barrier made of concrete and huge rocks around the base of the bridge for support.
It is unknown how old the barriers supporting the Key Bridge’s pillars are, but the Key Bridge was built about half a century ago and was designed earlier. During this period the ships had become very big.
The Guangzhou Bridge collision occurred in the small canal of the Pearl River. That waterway is of much less importance. The bridge is also equipped with various devices designed to protect the base of the bridge pillars to prevent collision of ships. China Central Television reported that the security work was supposed to be completed in 2022, but has been delayed, and the latest completion date is set for August this year.
Harbor pilots or crew members of many large ships will have two anchors ready when the ship enters or leaves port, so that they can be dropped in case of an emergency such as the ship losing power and stopping quickly. Basil M. Karatzas, CEO of Karatzas Marine Advisors, a New York-based ship inspection company, said he has commonly seen crews doing this on oil tankers, but it is less common on container ships.
Carataeus said that the anchor would have to be untied in preparation for throwing. It requires a lot of preparation time. Normally, the crew on board the ship would have to go to the bow of the ship to unhook and release the anchor. It is impossible to throw it down in an emergency.
When larger ships leave and enter port they are often accompanied by tugs, so that when ships are in trouble, they can be towed away and saved from harm. It is currently unknown whether any tugboats were present when the “Daily” struck the bridge on the 26th.
When the “Dali” left Baltimore Harbor, the spring tide was about to exit the harbor, and the moon was about to become full, less than 24 hours before full moon. The spring full moon occurs when local sea level changes the most due to tides; Although Baltimore Harbor usually does not change much even when filled with spring tides, tidal movement is likely one of the factors in this bridge collision.
Focus(tagstotranslate)New York Times(T)New York City(T)Verrazzano Bridge