Planes and Boats and Trains. Wrecks!

[chancery]

When twitter is good it can be very good.

https://twitter.com/NOLAMaritime/status ... 6546838985

Matt Margolis
@ItsMattsLaw
fucking boat law

Peter Orlowicz
@PeterOrlowicz
·
Replying to @ItsMattsLaw
Nope, this is probably a straightforward limitation of liability suit under 46 U.S.C. §30523, so it'll be limited to the value of the vessel.

Harry Morse
@NOLAMaritime
Hello I am a boat lawyer. Odds of winning limitation here are slender.

Matt Margolis
@ItsMattsLaw
would love more context - I am a land attorney so out of my element

Peter Orlowicz
@PeterOrlowicz
Same, I know enough here to be dangerous, but fully prepared to be wrong on the details (if not the general applicability of maritime law and having to worry about stuff like limitation of liability in the first place.)

Harry Morse
@NOLAMaritime
Sure. This is entirely my thing so apologies for going overboard. To win limitation of liability, you have to prove that the allision (boat hits stationary thing) occurred without the owner's privity and knowledge - i.e. the owner/operator neither knew nor should have known

Peter Orlowicz
@PeterOrlowicz
(*overboard*, I see what you did there.)

Harry Morse
@NOLAMaritime
about the cause of the allision. The classic case is an error in navigation by an otherwise competent captain. Here, where the vessel lost power, the great majority of the time, there will be some sort of improper maintenance / upkeep.

And just generally speaking, winning limitation is very difficult. Judges decide limitation, and they ordinarily don't like it. I was in a mediation recently in a gut liability case with a strong limitation defense. I'm selling the mediator on the limitation defense and he tells me "yeah nobody wins limitation." Which is wrong! But it's directionally right.

So why file for limitation? First, you make the argument you have. Second, with multiple claimants, it ordinarily secures a federal forum for sorting through the issues.

Fermented Gab—Louisiana Politics
@FermentedGab
Directionally right, and as a mediator, it was his job to beat down your defenses. And in five minutes, in the other room, he'll be telling the plaintiffs that the limitation defense looks pretty good so they're risking a lot… And I don't mind, that's the way the game is played.

New word, "allision"

[W. Kevin Vicklund]

New name for the old Francis Scott Key bridge: the Spar Mangled Spanner.

I'll see myself out...

[Estiveo]

The best I can deduce from all the Xitter theories is that the ship was crewed by undocumented transgender jews hired through DEI initiatives, and the bridge was vaccinated personally by Pete Buttigieg on direct orders from Joe Biden.

[realist]

The best I can deduce from all the Xitter theories is that the ship was crewed by undocumented transgender jews hired through DEI initiatives, and the bridge was vaccinated personally by Pete Buttigieg on direct orders from Joe Biden.

[northland10]

The best I can deduce from all the Xitter theories is that the ship was crewed by undocumented transgender jews hired through DEI initiatives, and the bridge was vaccinated personally by Pete Buttigieg on direct orders from Joe Biden.

That's my take on it.

And the coverup has begun. They said the crew was unharmed, but the big vaccinated bridge fell on the boat and probably shed the vax all over the crew. They're going to die in 2 days.

[Estiveo]

The best I can deduce from all the Xitter theories is that the ship was crewed by undocumented transgender jews hired through DEI initiatives, and the bridge was vaccinated personally by Pete Buttigieg on direct orders from Joe Biden.

That's my take on it.

And the coverup has begun. They said the crew was unharmed, but the big vaccinated bridge fell on the boat and probably shed the vax all over the crew. They're going to die in 2 days.

The Deep State will stop at nothing, man.

[AndyinPA]

You people are terrible.

I'm sure they will have their stupid theories, though.

[W. Kevin Vicklund]

This was the view from the living room of a friend from college yesterday morning:

Baltimore Ship.jpg (51.45 KiB) Viewed 1275 times

[RTH10260]

Baltimore bridge collapse: at least six missing as Biden laments ‘terrible accident’
Mayor says rescue efforts continuing after cargo vessel hit Francis Scott Key Bridge, sending vehicles into the water

Ashifa Kassam and Chris Michael
Tue 26 Mar 2024 21.52 CET

A frantic search-and-rescue effort continued on Tuesday hours after a major bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, snapped and collapsed when a container ship collided with it in the early morning, sending a number of vehicles into the water.

Baltimore fire department officials said at least six construction workers were still missing, after reports that a 948ft Singapore-flagged container ship leaving port on its way to Sri Lanka had crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

Jeffrey Pritzker, a senior executive at Brawner Builders, the employer of the construction workers, said Tuesday afternoon that they were presumed dead, given the water’s depth and the length of time since the crash.

Pritzker said the crew had been working in the middle of the bridge when it came apart. No bodies have been recovered.

“This was so completely unforeseen,” Pritzker said. “We don’t know what else to say. We take such great pride in safety, and we have cones and signs and lights and barriers and flaggers. But we never foresaw that the bridge would collapse.”

A report from the Baltimore Banner earlier said the were construction workers from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico who are in their 30s and 40s, with spouses and children.

Officials added that up to 20 people and several vehicles had fallen into the river and declared it a “mass casualty event”.



https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... -collision

[Dr. Ken]

Police did such a good job from the time the mayday went out of clearing the bridge of traffic. There were no drivers on the bridge when it was hit and only a work crew was there.

[DrIrvingFinegarten]

Can anyone really make an intelligent argument about why Pete Buttigieg is at fault for the bridge strike?

“He’s in charge so it’s his responsibility “ is only true if he could have actually done something to prevent it, right?

[pipistrelle]

Again, a moment to pause & appreciate the cool professionalism of those in & around the Key Bridge at 1:24 am Tuesday.

Ship’s pilot radios in that ship has lost steerage & will hit bridge.

Someone (maritime control?) transmits urgent alert to Maryland/Balt police dispatch…

—>

Whole thread is worth reading. The fictional “deep state” keeps the world together so we don’t have to worry about it.

[Slim Cognito]

That (word I can't say) on Fox News was trying to blame DEI and immigrants.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 19268.html

[AndyinPA]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... -black-box

Officials announced the recovery of two bodies on Wednesday from the water beneath the spot where the bridge in Baltimore collapsed, with the two men having been found trapped in their vehicle after it fell from the bridge early on Tuesday.

The authorities said the men were found by divers in a red pickup truck underwater on Wednesday morning and their loved ones were informed in person by officials on Wednesday afternoon, the public and media were told at an evening briefing.

Four other workers who had been on the bridge remain missing, presumed dead.

The scope of the bridge disaster had already widened on Wednesday after the six construction workers had been declared dead and investigators recovered the black box from the ship whose crash brought one of America’s busiest ports to a grinding halt.

Authorities were continuing their investigation into the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge after the Singaporean-flagged container ship Dali crashed into it on early Tuesday morning en route to Sri Lanka.

[Kendra]

This is so sad all around, I hope they can recover the other bodies. And the impact on the dock workers if the port is shut down for long and there are lay offs, and the whole supply chain could be affected and not just in MD. I imagine that if that happens, Fox will blame it all on Biden

[RTH10260]

I guess that the water path will be reopened very soon. My estimate is it takes about two weeks to get a large floating crane to the accident site. It will lift full mangled sections unto barges to be taken to a scrap processing site. I expect that part of the wrangled mess of steel will be separated by explosives like it would happen for a planned bridge removal. Torching will inho be too dangerous when the tensions relase their power. Operation completed within four weeks. As for rebuilding the bridge, I guess about three years o completion.

[Foggy]

I think the bridge will be rebuilt in less than a year. Our construction crews do awesome work.

[Volkonski]

I suspect that there will be a big push to completely redesign the bridge to prevent such an incident in the future. That will take a while. It is not as if teams of civil engineers have been waiting around just in case something like this happened.

The new bridge components will take time to fabricate. Steel makers won't even begin to plan for production until the design is complete.

Assembly over an active ship channel will be slow.

The no longer existing bridge's construction started in August 1972. It opened on March 23, 1977.

A year sounds very optimistic to me.

[RTH10260]

One part of the redesign will likely be some sort of protective island around the pillars to hold ships off from colliding. Needs to account for the bow overhang over the bulbous bow, and for the sides flowing out over the kiel. They also tend to take down structures in harbours, think quay cranes.

I guess there will be a new ferry service to at least allow pedestrians to cross and connect at either side.

[Sam the Centipede]

One part of the redesign will likely be some sort of protective island around the pillars to hold ships off from colliding. Needs to account for the bow overhang over the bulbous bow, and for the sides flowing out over the kiel. They also tend to take down structures in harbours, think quay cranes.

I guess there will be a new ferry service to at least allow pedestrians to cross and connect at either side.

Islands or dolphins. As you say, the crucial issue is to prevent a ship impacting the bridge because that sort of impact is not survivable.

Vessels with bulbous bows don't tend to have much of an above water projection beyond the underwater parts, do they? Clearly the bulbous bow itself isn't an issue,, if anything it helps as it would impact any underwater barrier sooner. Large cargo ships are pretty much slab sided (block coefficients 0.8–0.9), think boxes with a slightly pointy front end and rounded bilge strakes (the plating between the side walls and flat bottom).

Other ships tend to be smaller and I think (without investigating!) that a barrier that could fend off a boxy bulk carrier or container ship could also fend off a smaller, finer ship, even if it had more of the overhangs you describe.

The bridge wings (the bits with windows that allow bridge crew to see what's happening to the side of their ship when in confined spaces) might project beyond the sides slightly, but not enough to matter.

Of course the port authority can also set restrictions on the vessels that are permitted through its entrance, and insist on tug support for some.

[Volkonski]

The biggest crane on the East Coast is coming to help lift up to 4,000 tons of a Baltimore bridge dangling from a cargo ship

https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/29/us/franc ... index.html

The crane will help expedite the monumental challenge of moving dangerous debris so crews can resume their search for the missing victims and reopen a cargo channel that’s vital to the local and national economy.

In addition to the crane, three heavy lift vessels are expected to start arriving Friday, US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told CNN.

But workers at the scene still face “an incredibly complex job,” Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said Thursday.

“When you have a chance to see that wreckage up close, you fully understand the enormity of the challenge,” the governor said. “Our timeline will be long.”

The cargo ship – about the length of three football fields – has as many as 4,000 tons of steel frame hanging on its bow since the ship plowed into the Key Bridge – sending a crew of construction workers plunging to the frigid water below.

Only two of those workers survived. The bodies of two others were later pulled from the water. Authorities believe the remaining four victims are trapped in the tangle of steel and concrete submerged under water.

Recovering those victims is a top priority, and it is “our obligation to bring a sense of closure to these families,” Moore said.

But first, officials are conducting a full assessment of the debris pieces before they can be lifted from the water, US Coast Guard Rear Adm. Shannon Gilreath said. This appraisal is critical in determining how small to cut the bridge pieces so cranes can lift them, he said.

[Rolodex]

The clearing up is going to be such a major undertaking.

They are working on plans to divert all the shipping to other ports up and down the eastern seaboard. I wonder about all the shipyard/port workers - will they get help moving? Will the other ports absorb them? And all the ancillary businesses whose main customers are port workers - they're going to be hurt, too.

Side note: We know immediately after the crash, all the scummy conspiracies started bubbling up; I mostly saw joke memes about them bc they're so stupid and unbelievable. "DEI" was one of them and I thought it was just thrown in there bc it's a thing right now. But then I heard a comment (I think on NPR?) that DEI came up because the mayor of Baltimore is Black. That took me aback because I'm just not creative enough to come up with that. I mean, it's stupid, but to think a current mayor had anything to do with a boat crash? That earns bonus racist points.

[Foggy]

... the mayor of Baltimore is Black.

In an earlier time here, we had a book club, and we read his book, "The Other Wes Moore". That was many years before he was elected mayor. He might be governor someday. He's impressive.

[Volkonski]

Just for the record the Port of Baltimore is run by the Maryland Port Administration which is a unit of the Maryland Department of Transportation.

The Port is not run by the City of Baltimore.

The Francis Scott Key Bridge was a toll bridge operated by the Maryland Transportation Authority.

It was not operated by the City of Baltimore.

[raison de arizona]

Good thread with timeline and commentary.
https://twitter.com/cfishman/status/177 ... 52370?s=20
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1773 ... 82896.html

On the bridge of the container ship Dali, 4 minutes from disaster, there's one critical moment we haven't heard about yet.

The very moment the ship lost power the 1st time.

What did the pilot do, right then?

His first thought, apparently, was safety — the bridge looming ahead.

—>

2/ The 1st 'event' leading up to the collision that the NTSB notes in its timeline is 1:24:59—when alarms on the bridge indicate power failure.

The ship was without electricity, engine power, lights, navigation, radio.

Dali was dark, literally & in terms of communications.

—>

3/ The first thing the pilot did — apparently within the first 30 to 60 seconds of the ship going dark — was take out his cell phone and call harbor pilot dispatch.

He told his dispatcher: We've lost power, close the bridge. Close the bridge.

—>