Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapses

[ready2cruzagain]

I know NCL only has one cruise out of Baltimore that I see this year but it was one that I was looking at. 

 

 

https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/03/26/key-bridge-collapses-into-patapsco/

 

From what I have seen on the news, massive casualties. Very sad

Edited March 26 by ready2cruzagain

[njkate]

2 hours ago, ready2cruzagain said:

I know NCL only has one cruise out of Baltimore that I see this year but it was one that I was looking at. 

 

 

https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/03/26/key-bridge-collapses-into-patapsco/

 

From what I have seen on the news, massive casualties. Very sad

Absolutely horrible! Thank goodness it was at 1AM and not 6 or 7 AM when that bridge would of been bumper to bumper commuter traffic. There were construction workers on bridge too. 

At this point I have to assume it was pilot error,

[puppycanducruise]

Horrible news.  Prayers for all involved.

[Laszlo]

2 hours ago, ready2cruzagain said:

I know NCL only has one cruise out of Baltimore that I see this year but it was one that I was looking at. 

 

 

https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/03/26/key-bridge-collapses-into-patapsco/

 

From what I have seen on the news, massive casualties. Very sad

Carniival has about 30 cruises in 2024

[DCGuy64]

Sad indeed! I'm headed to Baltimore tonight for a singing engagement (though, thankfully, to a different part of town). I'm sure the traffic is going to be quite a challenge. Prayers also for those affected by this tragic accident.

[Ellis1138]

Not a pilot error. Something on the ship caught fire and the ship lost power and hit the bridge. Horrible accident and loss of life, even though it could have been worse if it was the daytime.

 

And traffic through the area is always awful. We tend to take the 895 tunnel. That and the 95 harbor tunnel will be a mess for a while.

[Manchester is blue]

Awful news. Lots of news about it this morning here in the UK. We can only all pray for our friends in the US that have been affected by this terrible event.

[Justmekaren918]

Vision & Legend & Legend was due back 3/31 so where they are going now unknown & nothing on RCL & Carnival site! 

[Russiamomm]

Horrible accident.  I’ve been over that bridge countless times and just passed through Baltimore twice this weekend.  Prayers for all involved.

 

While a minor issue in the big scheme of things, there are two cruise ships that go out of Baltimore - the Carnival Pride and a small RCCL ship.  We saw them both this weekend.  Who knows now long it will take to allow any ship in or out of Baltimore Harbor, including those two ships which are out to sea at the moment.  And freight will be affected up and down the East Coast.

Edited March 26 by Russiamomm

[david_sobe]

Its really horrible.  I have never sailed out of Baltimore.  Are any NCL ships leaving soon or coming back soon?  What a time for a loss of power or whatever happened to the ship.  Its so sad it did not happen after the ship cleared the bridge.  There are 7 people missing the last I heard.

[VideoTech]

I notice that the port of Baltimore is not an option on NCL's website this morning. Did they have a ship cruising out of that port?

[dbrown84]

It was so sad waking up this morning and seeing this on the news.  I've never cruised out of Baltimore even though I'm local.  So I had no idea it had an actual impact on cruising.  Interesting enough, I'm looking to do my first Carnival cruise and was looking at one from Baltimore in November.  I'll be interested to see how this effects things, cruisewise 

[hallux]

13 minutes ago, VideoTech said:

I notice that the port of Baltimore is not an option on NCL's website this morning. Did they have a ship cruising out of that port?

I see it.  Next NCL cruise from that port is the Sky in September.

[ready2cruzagain]

50 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

Its really horrible.  I have never sailed out of Baltimore.  Are any NCL ships leaving soon or coming back soon?  What a time for a loss of power or whatever happened to the ship.  Its so sad it did not happen after the ship cleared the bridge.  There are 7 people missing the last I heard.

 

38 minutes ago, VideoTech said:

I notice that the port of Baltimore is not an option on NCL's website this morning. Did they have a ship cruising out of that port?

 

NCL Sky has a sailing out of Baltimore this September going to Quebec 

Edited March 26 by ready2cruzagain

[Laszlo]

3 minutes ago, ready2cruzagain said:

 

 

NCL Sky has a sailing out of Baltimore this September going to Quebec 

Might be possible, clearing the channel will the #1 priority for now. The bridge..... that will be 2-3 years away

[JustAllie]

My friends and I sailed from Baltimore to Bermuda on the Norwegian Sun this past Thanksgiving. I never thought it would be my last opportunity to sail under the Francis Scott Key Bridge. My heart goes out to the people who died or were injured, and to their families and friends. 

 

I think the impact on commercial shipping will be much greater than to cruising.  It wasn't a big cruise port, so hopefully the ships that were sailing to/from Baltimore can dock somewhere else for a while as the cruise lines relocate those ships for future sailings. 

[ready2cruzagain]

7 minutes ago, JustAllie said:

My friends and I sailed from Baltimore to Bermuda on the Norwegian Sun this past Thanksgiving. I never thought it would be my last opportunity to sail under the Francis Scott Key Bridge. My heart goes out to the people who died or were injured, and to their families and friends. 

 

I think the impact on commercial shipping will be much greater than to cruising.  It wasn't a big cruise port, so hopefully the ships that were sailing to/from Baltimore can dock somewhere else for a while as the cruise lines relocate those ships for future sailings. 

I agree, we have sailed under that bridge a few times and never dreamed this would happen. I cannot image being in Baltimore, the families or all involved pain. My prayers are with them.

 

I agree about the impact on commercial shipping will be greatly impacted.

[Two Wheels Only]

The video shown in the link isn't in real time. It is sped up.

The full video is online and the collapse begins at 1:28:49am. 

[erisajd]

1 hour ago, Laszlo said:

Might be possible, clearing the channel will the #1 priority for now. The bridge..... that will be 2-3 years away

not necessarily - most bridge construction time is related to building the coffer dams and foundations - these were not damaged so they can use them for another bridge - if they turn it into a major emergency project they can prob clear the channel in a week - and then be done with a new bridge by the new year . . . 

[ready2cruzagain]

16 minutes ago, Two Wheels Only said:

The video shown in the link isn't in real time. It is sped up.

The full video is online and the collapse begins at 1:28:49am. 

Yes, it was early when I posted originally and not much news available 

[Two Wheels Only]

11 minutes ago, ready2cruzagain said:

Yes, it was early when I posted originally and not much news available 

 

I appreciate the information. It's just that people watching the video might not understand that it didn't happen that quickly and that the ship wasn't traveling that fast. 

[floridafish]

2 minutes ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

I appreciate the information. It's just that people watching the video might not understand that it didn't happen that quickly and that the ship wasn't traveling that fast. 

While the film is speeded up, from a news report I heard that just before impact, the ship was traveling at 7 knots. That's REAL fast for a cargo ship to plow into a bridge pillar. 

[chengkp75]

8 hours ago, ready2cruzagain said:

From what I have seen on the news, massive casualties.

A total of 7 or 8 people went into the harbor, and two have been rescued.  Hardly massive casualties.

 

5 hours ago, njkate said:

At this point I have to assume it was pilot error,

Nope.  Loss of power.

 

4 hours ago, Ellis1138 said:

Something on the ship caught fire and the ship lost power and hit the bridge

Nothing caught fire, but the ship did lose power.

 

1 hour ago, JustAllie said:

I think the impact on commercial shipping will be much greater than to cruising.

Bingo.  The whole port is closed now.  Baltimore is the largest port for car imports on the East coast.

 

1 hour ago, erisajd said:

and then be done with a new bridge by the new year . . . 

if they can get the engineering done by the end of the year, I would be amazed.

 

58 minutes ago, floridafish said:

While the film is speeded up, from a news report I heard that just before impact, the ship was traveling at 7 knots. That's REAL fast for a cargo ship to plow into a bridge pillar. 

7 knots is about "slow ahead" for a ship like that.  The only slower speed is "dead slow ahead", which is still about 5 knots.

 

From what I see in the video, and from what I remember from sailing under the Key bridge for years, they never learned from Florida's Sunshine Skyway bridge (that got hit by a ship a couple decades ago), and did not provide a sufficiently sized caisson (island surrounded by concrete pilings) to prevent a ship from striking the bridge supports.

[CruiseMH]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

 they never learned from Florida's Sunshine Skyway bridge (that got hit by a ship a couple decades ago), and did not provide a sufficiently sized caisson (island surrounded by concrete pilings) to prevent a ship from striking the bridge supports.

 

No matter if bridges, dangerous rail crossings or anything else traffic wise there always has to be an accident(with casualties) first before protection measures are done.

[chengkp75]

5 minutes ago, vacation44 said:

@ready2cruzagain  I was up very early this morning and I also read several accounts of "mass casualties".   At that time, I believe the news outlets were not aware that they were able to stop cars from entering the bridge right before the collapse.

 

Also the 7 and/or 8 people do not account for the people in the cars that did not get out. 

And, I saw my first knowledge of this incident at 0530 Eastern, and found out at that time that there were only 8 potential casualties.