Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Baltimore Bridge Collapse

Many are going to learn that it's the companies with cargo on the ship that crashed into the bridge that will pay the damages, not the ship owner or ship operator. That's because of ancient maritime law (older than the US constitution) called "General Average" designed to prevent sailors from fighting over which cargo to toss overboard, and instead to focus on saving the ship. Per Ryan Peterson.

Blog post/linky


Learned from the Evergreen mishaps.

I noticed it more in this video than the first one..

https://x.com/DCNewsLive/status/1772548737904107848?s=20

I sailed up through Norfolk a few times. No bridges on the Hampton end but huge ships come barreling through there in and out on their own constantly. The only tugs I saw were escorting a submarine and pushing me out of the channel.

Let's see , when those passenger rail cars always crash or they're going too fast on a corner and ends up being a gay guy arguing with his lover and in the end .. maybe
the harbor pilot was pizzed at his lover... with all the diversity they could hire that female engineer crew out of Florida that built the pedestrian bridge that fell and they could get right on it and Old Pete butt plug could be in charge. Everyone go home they got this!

The prevailing thought has been that it's anything BUT an accident. Some people, believing it's an accident, realize that it's unlikely that the engine room was "hacked" to stop ships power and then EXPERTLY rode momentum and currents to create a collision to take out a bridge at the BEST possible time of day to do so for mitigating loss of life. They did this knowing eventually power would come back on and reactions would ensure a collision after. They couldn't plan on her sinking as she only has 10 feet from keel to the bed - she's not gonna disappear under the waves....

The MAN 55,000 hp powerplant has Wi-fi and internet connectivity that opens it up for hacking - I'm sure.

They want to "attack" as retribution for whatever but not hurt anyone - makes sense.

asian muzzys (alum hat on)

Wife took me to Northern Michigan last year. The Mackinac Bridge, much to her chagrin, was the highlight to me. That is an impressive structure! She was also pissed when visiting Las Vegas that my main interest was the Hoover Dam.

Why didn't your mother insist on a condom? THAT is the elephant in the room.

Actually - speaking with more people - to clarify, damages to the vessel and cargo are covered under “general average”—paid by the cargo owners and their insurance companies. The bridge and other external damages will be covered by the property insurance of the ship operator.

It absolutely could be a combination of mechanical failure and human error.

At this point nobody knows and NTSB has not been aboard the ship.

Anyone, including the FBI, claiming to "know" what happened is wrong right now even if their guess turns out to be correct.

There are plenty of reasons why plenty of persons are having a very good day today.

I dont know alot about shipping or ships in general. You may be absolutely correct. I just question everything these days. Too many odd things happening

If it is an accident, does any blame or penalties fall on the captain?

I don't doubt or disagree with what Teal is said here. just from my observation and said looks like. that video will cause conspiracy theories for the next hundred years.

I'd think like anything else, you'd have to prove impairment (drunk/drugs) or gross negligence/malpractice - ignoring all protocol etc.

I do not know if their insurance has a deductible lol.

Kind of what I figured. Ive heard they have not located everyone missing yet, so with water temps in the 40s, my guess is there will be a few casualties sadly. Wonder if that will impact who gets the blame for this

Step 1 - reroute surface traffic and develop a new Hazmat/OS/OD route.
Step 2 - clear the river and get the docks open and going again
Step 3 - rebuild the bridge, likely with precautions like dolphins (not the animal) before the bridge supports both in and outbound.

The blame game will happen concurrently to all of those I bet. Just thinking of it as a project to get through. I'm sure they have local salvage and diver crews - Roen won't be chugging out from Sturgeon Bay here...

https://choiceclips.whatfinger.com/...-fishy-yet-again-latest-details-presser/

The "It was not an accident" thread.

The senior pilot is the captain during the period they are contracted for, it is very respectful, but 99 times out of 100, the ships captain keeps his mouth shut..and is often not much more than a translator when languages are a problem.
I got one side of the story once working on a docking assist at Bremerton/Kitsap Naval Base, a Navy Captain countermanded the order of the pilot...the skipper on the tug I was on balked at the order of the naval captain...the pilot told my skipper he had been relieved and please enter that with the correct time in the tug's log. Very tense but polite..no voices raised on the radio. Normally the navy has their own tugs. The navy ship damaged about 60 ft of pier and a small forest of piling with some hull damage to her stern. I don't know who ended up paying, but we never docked another naval vessel while I was there. The pilot continued to dock tankers and containerships successfully for another 12 years until he retired. I suspect my company didn't think the little bit of navy work was worth the hassle.

I, as well as everyone I know here is still is still in shock. From what I understand, the pilot did get on the horn to shore authorities the instant it became apparent that the ship was going to hit. The authorities, who we locals refer to as "the bridge cops" (MTA cops responsible for all the bridges in the Bay region) who did immediately choke off traffic onto the bridge. The vehicles seen in the videos were merely stragglers who scooted through in the last second, it's unclear if any of them took the plunge. (The videos show only a couple vehicles moving on the bridge - which even at that time of night is usually damned near bumper to bumper.) The vehicles that went in the drink were seemingly work vehicles of the maintenance crew standing on the bridge, as were most if not all, of the people who went down. It would seem that the emergency response was prompt and effective, sparing a whole lot more souls from a grizzly end. You gotta remember this ship was moving at a snail's pace, a big irresistible force, but a snail's pace nonetheless.

The main question I have is why didn't the maintenance crew get the word to drop what they're doing and scoot. Maybe they did and simply didn't react fast enough, who knows - we may never know.

I knew when this thread started that the conspiracy theorists and "Chicken Littles" would jump to conclusions and start promulgating wild ideas based entirely on gut feelings, scant information, and prejudices. Hell, they may well be right at the end of the day but it bears keeping quiet about it until the facts are in - if for no other reason than to honor the poor bastards who lost their lives.

Gnoahh,
My first guess would be the workers were overlooked.
In an extreme emergency the traffic would be the first though.
Someone may have nightmares for years over that normal oversight.