The Dali container ship was involved in a series of alarming accidents before it collapsed Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge in March, claiming the lives of six individuals and causing a historic U.S. infrastructure blockage.
The preliminary report released by federal safety investigators on Tuesday sheds some light on the numerous incident but also leaves many questions unanswered, particularly regarding the causes of the ship’s power failures.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the 984-foot ship experienced four blackouts in the span of roughly 10 hours. Two of these outages occurred the day before the crash, while the other two happened just minutes before the fatal collision.
While the reason for one of the blackouts is known – a crew member inadvertently closed an exhaust damper during maintenance, causing a diesel engine to stall – the causes of the other three power failures remain a mystery.
The first two blackouts prompted the crew to change the ship’s electrical configuration, a routine procedure that involved switching from one transformer and breaker system to another. However, this action may have inadvertently contributed to the power failures that occurred as the ship navigated the Patapsco River and, eventually, crashed into the Key Bridge.
As the Dali approached the Francis Scott Key Bridge, electrical breakers unexpectedly tripped, causing a power outage that led to the shutdown of the main engine’s cooling pumps.
Despite the crew’s efforts to restore power, it was too late to prevent the deadly disaster. The ship struck one of the bridge’s main supports, causing the span to collapse. The result was a tragic loss of life, billions of dollars in damages, and a total blockage of the globally-significant shipping corridor.
Experts in the field of naval architecture and marine engineering have weighed in on the potential causes of the blackouts. However, many questions remain unanswered, and the ongoing investigation will need to delve deeper into the specific circumstances surrounding each power failure.
Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, informed a House Congressional committee that the first two blackouts were “mechanically distinct” from the second two outages. She suggested that the crew’s decision to switch to a different electrical configuration following the initial blackouts “may have affected operations the very next day on the accident voyage.”
Experts disagree on the degree of fault to lay on the crew. Professor Stefano Brizzolara from Virginia Tech pointed out that switching to rarely used electrical components can increase the risk of failure, Professor Neil J. Gallagher from the Webb Institute maintained that electrical transformers are generally reliable and rarely contribute to total power blackouts.
Despite the crew’s response to the power failures, the crowded nature of many ports increases the risk of these types of disasters. As Professor Bradley Martin, a former U.S. Navy captain and senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation, noted, “Anybody who’s ever been around ships knows that machinery fails at inopportune times. And being so close to infrastructure like this means there’s no good way of reacting quickly enough.”
The tragedy in Baltimore raises important questions about the reliability of systems onboard global cargo ships, especially as these vessels have grown larger over time and operate outside of U.S. regulatory oversight. As Professor Thomas McKenney from the University of Michigan pointed out, finding the right balance between cost efficiency and safety is crucial to preventing similar incidents in the future.
As investigations into the Dali container ship disaster continue, it is evident that a combination of factors, including mechanical failures, human error, and the inherent risks associated with operating large vessels in confined spaces, all contributed to this devastating accident.
While shipping remains the most efficient means of transporting goods globally, incidents like the one in Baltimore serve as a sobering reminder of the potential dangers involved.