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I think the 2 most obvious solutions in the near term are going to be 1) Upgrading the fenders and dolphins around bridge piers and pilings; and 2) Requiring all ships over a certain size to maintain tug escorts until past any vital infrastructure when entering or departing a port in the US.

Think you have your Starboard and Port mixed up.. left (Port) is left side of the ship when on it, not left when looking at it. Be Posh, Port Out, Starboard Home.

Wasn’t the Potomac River. It’s was the patapsco River.

A little insight on big ships and what happens:- Ships steer like hospital gurneys with castor wheels. The stern moves to change course (that's where the rudder / propeller is) - not the bow. If the blackout occurred when the helm was to stbd (during minor course adjustment) the steering gear freezes without power. The stern moves to port (due to the 'hospital gurney' effect). If the Port anchor is dropped as the stern moves to port during this time it will drag beneath the keel further exacerbating the turn to stbd. The helm is being constantly adjusted by the helmsman or the autopilot when is tight channels. However when the power goes out the steering pumps stop working and the rudder freezes at the last position until the emergency generator starts. Even if the helm was at a minor, say, 5 degrees to stbd momentarily when the blackout happened it will be a full minute before the power was restored. Without the propulsion engine providing enhanced flow over the rudders the ship will continue on the same course at 6 knots for some time even with the helm hard to port due to the 'sail' effect of the high containers . The emergency generator starts about 1 minute after blackout. It can power the steering gear but is not big enough to power all the propulsion engine auxiliaries. The main generators must be used. To source and correct the initial blackout problem then get the main generators back "on the board" takes time. Only then can you re-start FW, SW, LO pressure, LO scavenge pumps and fans, blowers etc etc in sequence BEFORE you even can think of starting a four deck high, MAN B&W S90ME-C8-TII, 47,000 BHP, 2 Stroke diesel in reverse. The propulsion engine likely never restarted before the crash.

As a retired captain, when you see a blast of smoke from a ship’s stack it normally signifies a rapid increase in power application by the master. If a ship has forward momentum and you go into an emergency stop, astern propulsion application, the head of the ship will fall off dramatically and the position of the rudder would not matter. I suggest that you have never actually mastered a cargo ship but you seem to have many comments on the matter.

The Dali is a single propeller ship. When put in reverse, the stern pulls to port, and the bow to starboard. Putting it in reverse therefore caused an unintended turn to starboard. Had they just let her drift, she would have sailed safely beneath the bridge.

The word accident doesn't mean anything there's no such thing… Look for the negligent you will find it. The shortcuts to save money the lack of maintenance the lack of training. The bridge wasn't even protected so there's even more ignorance. These things mankind does a lot of times get blamed on the word accident when there's no such thing. So when our world is destroyed which is coming is it an accident?

Many people have already pointed out the inaccuracies of this video. Here's another one. Prior to the ship losing power, the bow was being illuminated by a deck (work) light. These lights are very bright and can outshine the navigation lights. These lights are always on for docking/undocking at night. And, it's common for the Captain to leave them on while the deck crew is stowing lines and getting the ship ready for sea. When the power went out, everything lost power. Including both the navigation lights and the deck lights. Plus, steering and propulsion also. When power was restored, the navigation lights turned back on, including the fwd range light that you claim didn't turn on. I'm a 25 year senior deck officer and I can spot it right away along with the aft range light and the stbd nav. light. What didn't turn back on (right away), is the bow deck light. You mistakenly thought the deck light was the fwd range light. It is not. Both range lights and the stbd nav light are on after power was restored. Also, you're friendly hacker is misinformed. It is a Coast Guard requirement that all of the ship's vital systems be segregated from the internet. I worked on oil tankers. I had to use a computer that was isolated from the internet to plan the load and discharge of the ship. That computer also monitored the stresses, drafts, bending moments of the ship while loading and discharging. But, I had another computer that had internet service to update maintenance plans, purchasing, etc. These two computers could not be linked. If a hacker hacked into that computer, they could have some fun, but they could not gain access to the controls or any vital systems of the ship. Any problem that we had with a vital equipment, if we couldn't fix it, we had to call a tech. to come down and fix it. Now, they could have slipped some bug into the system, but they still wouldn't be able to take control through that bug.

I live in Hobart (Tasmania), we had a huge bridge collapse in 1975 (Tasman Bridge) and all of us old enough to remember it were seriously triggered by this disaster in Baltimore. We know the disruption and recovery efforts.

KEY QUESTION: WHY didnt this bridge have pillar guards to deflect ships about to hit the bridge pillars. They are fairly common and overbuilt to prevent even a big containership like this from hitting the bridge support itself. A mere million dollar investment to protect the bridge would have saved 6 people and all the economical fallback from this bridge failing. Even more pressing is how nobody came up with this idea eventhough its "the 9th most busy port" in the USA. It reeks of negligence.

I'm really surprised that a ship that big didn't have mandatory tug escorts to fully clear the bridge

the navigation lights are green for the starboard side which is right side, red for port side which is left and the white aft light

The crash was caused by their port and starboard lights being on the wrong sides.

This ship has 3 main generators 2 should have been on line and synchronized together and sharing the total load. One generator can carry the total load. The 4th generator is the emergency generator is not in the engine room and runs on its own fuel #2 diesel it is large enough to run the steering but not the bow thruster or the main engine .The main engine needs fuel pumps water pumps and many other motors to operate. So I think this ship was under way with only one generator if it fails for any reason total loss of power. Retired tug boat captains opinion.

Hey there’s a few errors in this: - Navigation lights - colors correct but you messed up what you describe as port and starboard. - Fuel: Diesel is not a gasoline. - Ship acceleration - you make it sound like the ship was out of control as it sped up to 8 knots but that’s a typical speed for that size ship in the channel.

Given the engine issues days before departure, an escort tug would have been prudent.

The amount of experts here is awe inspiring.

I think it's crazy there wasn't dolphin barriers installed to protect the main pillars a long time ago.. It's such a busy cargo traffic lane. These barriers redirect a ship, similar to things they use around docks.. They gotta do something going forward to guide ship traffic under bridges like this. And protect the main load barring pillars

Click Bait "What REALLY Happened?" - Exactly the same info available elsewhere days ago, to help sell Hoverpens?

You started out suggesting nefarious reasons for the collision and then said “I don’t believe that.” Then you attack the structure of the bridge in current times vs when it was built. Your 20-20 hindsight is amazing.

Most likely cause was loss of electrical power, due to poorly functioning load share circuity that causes the electric load to drift onto one generator and then consequential trip out of one or both generators. This is sometimes called cross current (electrical) compensation. Rather complex and frequently not understood by the engine room crew. I am a retired Westinghouse field service engineer and worked on this problem many times on ships.

The green light is the starboard or right side running light. The red is the port or left side running light. You have it backward. If you're going to tell people "what really happened" at least get the basic facts straight.

This is why I watch your channel. Concise, measured discussion on subjects. It was nice meeting you and Robert on Friday at Everything Electric Show. And to answer Dan's question, your channel is best. 😊

the port light is on the left hand side of a vessel "there is always some red port left on the ship".

You can't say what happened if you don't know port from starboard... 🤨

The Francis Scott Key Bridge does not connect Baltimore and Washington. It is a path for truck traffic across the harbor to the east, completes the loop of the Baltimore Beltway on the southeastern side, connects the eastern to the southern near-suburbs, and most importantly, allows access for trucks to the port.

Rudder control helps, but in something that big, if you’re not under power, it’s not going to over power the wind. I imagine something this big would have bow thrusters as well?

Here's the thing...tugboats are not an easy fix to solve the problem. Tugs are incredible, and very useful in ports, but they have their limits, one of which is _speed._ In 2022, a tug at Corpus Christi ran aground and suffered serious damage while trying to manoeuvre at around 8.2 knots. To safely use tugs, you'd have to reduce the speed of ships to something more like 4-6 knots. The distance from Port of Baltimore to the Chesapeake Bay is around 10 nautical miles, so we're talking about staying under tug for an additional two hours, and at the same time halving the capacity of the channel, since ships would have to take that much longer to transit. If you wanted to keep ships under tug until they'd cleared _all_ bridges, that's 21 nautical miles. Can you imagine how many tugs you'd need to bring in to service that kind of distance? To be clear, I'm not claiming to be an expert on harbour logistics, but people who _are_ experts, who operate tugs, say that it's not practical, for the reasons above. I'm going to take their word for it.

NOTE: Green = Starboard (RIGHT side facing forward) Red = Port (LEFT side facing forward)

Port, Red, Left....(shorter words that go together) compared to Starboard, Green, Right (longer words that go together)

Great video! Thank you for the explanation. I saw it when it happened online and a thousand questions went through my mind. Many of which you answered. Thanks for explaining the ship's lighting and the timeline. I thinks its awful that the tugboats don't stay with these giants past all bridges.

Thanks for the info. It is concerning that many happen in part or whole from greed. I hope you get to report on this again.

dude, rightside of a ship is called starboardside with a green light while the leftside of a ship is the portside with a red light.

Many ships rely on prop wash over the rudder to assist in maneuvering. If that's lost, even the backup steering systems will be hampered. Also, currents and winds have a HUGE effect on a ship of this size, and loss of propulsion OR steerageway can quickly lead to them being off course.

They ruled out hacking quickly because, it's almost completely electro-mechanical, mannual, non-computerised operation - only navigation is computerised and connected, and this is isolated from the rest of the systems ... you can't hack it remotely, except to send it off course

Thank you. This is much more efficient than watching TV.

Two excellent UKposts channels with videos about the bridge collapse and ongoing activity there are: "What is Going on With Shipping?" and "eSysman SuperYachts"

Initial NTSB report says the "black box" stopped recording at 1:24am. This is not an accident.

I was a merchant mariner for half my life and have been at the helm of many different vessels over the years including container ships such as the Dali so I thought I'd give my unsolicited two cents. I see a lot of comments talking about various theories as to why she went to starboard in her final moments. Was it prop walk? Was it because they went into crash astern? Was it because they dropped the port anchor? No, no, and no. These vessels don't react on a dime. It takes a long time to get these suckers moving in any direction and just as long to stop their swing once they get moving. Had the vessel gone into crash astern the effects of that action wouldn't have been felt for a few minutes. Even without power a vessel going 7 to 8 knots still has a lot of water rushing by the rudder. I read another comment regarding Bank cushion and bank suction. Neither would have factored in because there was plenty of space between them and the bank. I've experienced this effect on many occasions but always in very narrow channels such as when coming out of the locks and into the channel on the Caribbean side of the Panama canal. While passing the convoy of ships entering the canal there's a very noticeable turn towards the incoming vessels as you pass each other port to port that you must counteract with stbd rudder. Also, looking at the chart there is a channel entering the river that would have been in line with the ships starboard quarter just prior to the collision. The tide was going out at the time of the crash so all that water leaving the channel into the river would have pushed the Dali's stern to port thus turning the bow to starboard. How much effect this had I have no idea but definitely could have contributed but in reality the real culprit was time. There just wasn't enough time to make any significant course corrections. The helmsman appears to have been holding starboard rudder when power was lost and even if the rudder returned to midships the vessel would continue on it's starboard turn if left unchecked. I feel sorry for that crew and pilot. That must have really sucked. I would like to hear the VDR some day or at least read the transcript. No shortage of four letter words to be sure. My heart goes out to the people whom lost their lives on the bridge as well. RIP

Thanks for being the first to essentially acknowledge the one horror shipping has to deal with: "the road moves". The outgoing tide dragged that ship into the bridge; nobody on board was involved.

The key to the crash lies in the ship veering to the right towards the post of the Bridge as it was approaching it, , before which black smoke was emitted by the funnel , and the anchor dropped to stop the ship , The two crucial mistakes after emergency power was restored to the steering , The black smoke was due to the astern propulsion that caused the head to veer to the st bd (right) towards the bridge pillar It should be understood that the heading of the vessel is not depend on the propulsion but on the momentum hat was at 8 knots & stern or bow thrust would have no effect on a ship moving at 8 knots other than swinging the head to the st bd towards the pillar What should have been done after emergency power to the steering was restored, that came in a minutes time after the black out , was not to try & stop the vessel but navigate it under the bridge using the momentum.of 8 knots , Moreover the conditions for departure were ideal with a low 0,2 knots current & light winds that have would have no adverse effects, The truth of the crash may never come out lest insurance/compensation be denied for the erraneous action of the pilot/officals , whose focus changed from the contracted safe navigation to saving the bridge , only to end up crashing on the pillar , Man let hair grow on your bald head, you speak not of the veering to the right

WRONG this man has his port & Starboard lights crossed over.....leave him ashore next time

One of the main reasons of collisions at sea, is that landlubbers forget if the red light is on the portside or on the starboard side. May be the bridge thought, that the ship was going to opposite direction, if it had it’s navigation lights placed as is teached in this documentary.

Thanks for the vid. Nice to get an overview not cut to three minutes like on the news. I'm sure I'm the end there was a confluence of circumstances. No less a tragedy for it, but big is always dangerous.

The black smoke to me looks like a Semi or old farm tractor that had been sitting for a long period. That leads me to believe it was a 'cold' start of a backup unit or a very rough emergency start of another power source.

Great content, really enjoyed your last 8-9 videos.

My wife and I have been over that bridge almost 100 times as her parents lived 3 minute from there. At one time both of our lively hoods were tied to the port as we worked in intermodal. Personally it has put us in shock. The rearview look has me wondering why "fenders" or some kind of buffer system wasn't installed decades ago, seems like a relative cheap solution. Thanks for your video. I've been watching for a long time now as your normal subject matter interests me.

You provided the solution: ships should be no larger/heavier than the bridge was designed to accommodate. Same issue occurs on roadways with trucks. Trucks are too large/heavy for current surface infrastructure. What agency approves this mismatch?

It is a combination of corporate deliberate neglect (failing to fix the ship), a corporate culture of money over safety (firing people who try to blow the whistle), and Americas long time culture of neglecting infrastructure so we can give these corporations more tax breaks or incentives.

In 1974 a ship took out the main bridge in Hobart Tasmania, due to the difficulty and depth of the river under it the ship was left there. All ships now going under have to be under a certain size and all need a local pilot onboard either for entering or exiting. I would agree tugs and dolphins should be a requirement particularly for places like this and for key infrastructure.

1. This ship has MANY Aux Diesel generators. The Main engine does NOT power " All" the lights in ports. There are MANY REFERS on board, some of which which require 24/7 aux generators to keep those containers Cold. I have seen PLASTIC in the fuel a few times cause the same type situation at the dockside and at sea. Most the Empties are on the Bow area, then haz mat containers. Ricky, you do do a deep dive into the refineries dumping a byproduct of plastic into marine fuels.

Accidents almost always have multiple reasons and ways to prevent them.

Thank you for the details and points you mention. Im not sure why but I think it would be prudent to seize the ship for as many reasons as the accident is unexplained. The very fact that is currently causing the disruption in global shipping industry is a substantial reason to impound it. The NTSB inquiries can almost tell us what each passenger ate before the plane crashed. This type of forensic examination is what the shipping and world needs to know about. Time is the measure of this rehabilitation for City of Baltimore and Port. It also will be the example of how transportation hubs are influenced by mishaps that can be prevented. I do believe the DALI is an asset now, should it be floated, off loaded, docked in USA waters the ability of companies all associated with it's ownership be responsible for the clean up and restoration of the FSK bridge. When I first heard about this The Only thing I thought was not another 9 11. I'm sure that shipping companies around the world are concerned about the safety of ships and crews. America is learning how dependant we are on many types of goods from around the globe. This accident in 2024 will give us a peek of why we should be self-sufficient. America needs to take care of Americans, not ship our Navy and assets to Gaza to build a pier for a problem half way around the world! Amen

This type of ship has four generators, three in operation and an emergency unit. One handles the steering alone, one the engine and bridge controls and navigation lights and one the other power demands for refrigerated containers etc. These generators are only used in the port and port approach with the main generator used at sea and run off the propeller shaft. The emergency generator supplies power to the backup steering controls in the engine room and on the bridge that only send the rudder to port or starboard but if that fails the rudder can be turned by hand from a lever in the engine room. The sudden turn the ship made at the last moment suggests that the wrong button was pressed on the emergency rudder unit was. It has been reported from the terminal that the Dali was having power problems whilst docked. If so then the question is why was she allowed to leave without the assistance of tugs at least to beyond the bridge. Ships controls are not connected to the internet and so cannot be hacked, the GPS unit feeds directly to the ships navigation computer.

When I saw that thumbnail with that yellow arrow pointing at something I JUST HAD TO WATCH IT, WOW!

Very speculative lets see what conclusion the professionals with the facts reach

Why no Insurance investigation ? Within hours the Resident said You All will pay for it.

Apparently, it was originally thought that a tunnel should be built there instead of a bridge, but the route carries a lot of hazardous material that is not allowed in a tunnel.

Very good engineering dad. May you prosper and be in health.

Great video. Your objectivity on this is appreciated.

Thanks for offering this no nonsense view of the recent tragedy. Appreciate your adherence to facts, and creating this oasis for reliable information.

*- All commertial shipping does Not connect their ship's computers to the internet.* *- Any hacking would have to be done manually on board the ship.* *- As mentioned, the ship had serious electrical problems because of the refigerated containers on board.* *~ ~ ~ ~ ~* *- Going foreward, Ships' probellers rotate clockwise and turn/push the bow to the ship's left.* *- Going backward, Ship's propellers rotate antii-clockwise and turn/push the bow to the ship's right.*

Money in my opinion is why we lost the Space Shuttle and this bridge. This presentation is well balanced and thoughtfully presented. Time will tell us what really was the root cause, I believe.

One question I still have is if there were too many refer boxes on-board. Part of their problem in port could be explained by rearranging the connections to spread out the load evenly but if there was too much on there... It would be impossible for the generators to maintain this, which would allow for a short period of usage before failure. The ship's mains would also be able to hold the load while in port but when the work of moving the ship is added would allow for overload. Another source had mentioned this and it could really make sense of exactly why or how this slipped through. Although, if this were the case, there is a 0% chance rules were followed regarding (electrical) capacities on the ship and a 99.99% chance money was the root cause.

*What happened was Americans blamed Indians who were the ones who saved lives of people by issuing a MAYDAY CALL but racism against Indians is ok somehow*

As you know all disasters of any size are more likely a cascade of failures and not just one. So expecting one single point of failure is extremely unlikely. A ship losing power in the open ocean is just as scary if not more so. The reason that they ruled out hacking so quickly is that none of the power systems are accessible from off the ship so you would need physical access.

The issue I have is they ruled a lot out within the first hour and they had not talked to any of the crew or the captains. No one in an investigation ever rules anything out right away. And with the coincidence of other bridges, train accidents can make the public suspicious!

This is the main concern about aging infrastructure in the US. At the time many of our bridges were built cars, trucks, semi trucks and cargo ships were a lot lighter as well as the amount of traffic. I fear you will see a lot of bridge failures in the future if we don't upgrade our infrastructure. When I lived in Southern California there were many bridges where you could see erosion cracks around the base of the bridges.

I’ve seen videos of ships sailing around the wreckage this week. The ports aren’t closed. Sure it will slow traffic on the water, but people saying the ports are closed for years to come are fear mongering IMO

Helpful analysis. Thanks.

Port is Left. Starboard is Right. The video image is correct as well. You got the light colors correctly, but your description is not clear. The green light is on the right of the vessel from the view of the vessel's captain, moving forward and the opposite if you look at it dead on. So if you are on the vessel the green light of your vessel is on your right, while if a vessel is approaching you, straight on, its red light is on your right.

Built in the 70s it conformed to code of he time. Ships were much smaller

Hi look up (WHATS GOING ON WITH SHIPPING?)

I've heard somewhere - no confirmation - that the Dali had electrical issues while at port prior to heading out.

Technically, MV was headed toward main ship channel under the bridge.

I think how folks have noted that the ship seems to suddenly veer to the pillar after regaining power. I initially believed this to be a horrible accident, but after seeing more videos of the accident itself (not the opinion pieces) I am conflicted. After Biden quickly announced it as only an accident and that the government would pay for everything, I became suspicious. These ships have huge insurance / liability coverages, not sure why that would not, at least in part, cover the cost of damage. As some other folks have noted, was there something other than an accident at play here, and is the government’s funding a way to side step an insurance investigation? Trust nothing, and let investigators gather evidence … which we see is already veering to a narrative just like the ship suddenly veered to that pillar.

The GREEN light is on the STARBOARD side of the ship, red is on the PORT side. The most likely cause is a loss of electrical generator (which I'm sure is a focus of the investigation). This will loose auxiliary equipment for the main engine which then shutsdown. The black smoke is the main engine being restarted in reverse (after emergency generators restored limited power). With the propeller in reverse, the rudder is ineffective since water isn't flowing over it. A tragic accident. Hopefully a new bridge will have much better collision protection around its supports.

Thanks to make thèse facts clearer to us.

Thanks, I've been ignoring all the click bait headlines 'till a trusted source came out with an explanation. Request a follow up video when the accident report comes out.

All about the $. Profit motive + anti-tax zealotry + outdated infrastructure = catastrophe. We’ll be irate-but only for a while. We’ll rebuild but won’t spend the $ to rehabilitate the thousands of other structurally deficient or outdated bridges and designs. Tampa Bay, 35W, I40, Queen Isabella.: the list goes on and on.

We are so paranoid about terrorist attacks these days, and rightly so. However I do believe this was a freak accident.

To answer the aft steering question when the ship lost power the emergency generator will start and loadup automatically and start feeding the emergency circuits, that's why only some of the lights come on, Aft steering should be part of this so once the EMDG is online there should be power to swing the rudder left or right, if this doesn't work or if it not part of the emergency circuit there will be a manual override usually a hand pump of some kind but this will be very slow as it will be operated by human power and will require lining up the system to swing the rudder left or right.

I heard on some other podcasts that tugboats were not required by the Port if the ship is under a certain size (300) and Dali was one of them. If that's the case they should revise or amend the rules regarding not just size but mechanical issues.

Thank you Lord Jesus for the gift of life and blessings to me and my family $14,120.47 weekly profit our Lord have lifts up my life!!! 🙏♥️♥️

Great video, impressed by how quick it was released

A common cause of losing power soon after sailing is that the engine ready use fuel tanks are not being replenished.

The last part of the trajectory was either incredibly bad luck, or amazing piloting skills.

3 bridges in 2 weeks lets not pretend what it is. This will continue all the way through the end of the year and ramping up. If you don't get it I'm sorry for you and you best open your eyes to the agenda

*What really happened was racists in America targetted Indians for this accident which happened due to a mechanical failure while american port captain was at helm* *It was Indian crew who issued SOS & MAYDAY call which saved lives of several people but then media still blamed Indians*

The light requirements on a ship are similar to on airplanes so you can tell their orientation and direction of travel at night from a distance.

Port and starboard lights are the wrong way around. But otherwise very interesting explanation. I was very surprised that the bridge had little to keep shipping away from the supports. Thanks for looking into the basics of this..

It’s not the only bridge into DC, it’s on the east side of Baltimore. Not the busiest side of the beltway but still a huge traffic nightmare

Most accidents are a cocktail of events, a perfect storm

Just two comments from me.... Once the propeller stops turning, it becomes a three bladed rudder, which will cause the rear of the ship to move either left or right, depending upon the direction of rotation of the prop. The bridge metal lattice structure was the only bit to fail. The concrete on and off ramps withstood the impact. This is most likely because they are supported by roller bearings, which will be resistant to the shock loading...

it's been reported the company that runs the vessel has ignore maintenenace and checks apparently that led to this.

fortunately, I 95 was not cut off. there is the Ft. McHenry tunnel and the Annapolis tunnel. also hazmat trucks can still go around on the I 695 west side. longer but still doable. so motor vehicle traffic can still move around. slower but still moving. the main problem is shipping is stopped their till the debris is removed.

Glad to see some analysis that keeps everything on the table at this point. Remember, every safety rule was created because of a previous accident. Oh, and Facing the bow, Right = Starboard, Left = Port. :)

Thank you for your in depth report, I do believe it could have been avoided, the ship giving problems beforehand was a tell tell sign plus if they encountered problems they should have called for help and asked for assistance, warning people ahead. Proper protocol was not followed here. In this day in age mistakes like this should not be happening. Maybe there's more to it who knows.

If you’re standing on a ship, or boat facing the bow, the front, the port side is the side on your left the starboard side is the side on your right. I believe you have your little green and red lights confused?