Container Ship Collapses the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore

[Bob Read]

There is ZERO evidence that what happened here was anything other that a slightly worn out and ill maintained ship had anything other than a bad accident which caught the crew completely by surprise.

Where is the evidence that this was caused by a maintenance problem? The part that is correct in your assertion is that at this point the public has been shown ZERO evidence for any cause. A lot of people in the government insisted that the Covid virus arose naturally. There are a lot of bad actors with ill intent in this world and it would be irresponsible to rule anything out before the investigation is complete.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

Where is the evidence that this was caused by a maintenance problem?

Steven has supplied what can be seen as evidence. To quote

The shipping company has been going thru a lot of union problems and has been cited by OSHA for numerous safety violations and for trying to silence whistle blowers. There's been an investigation into that companies practices well before this accident. According to news reports she was experiencing intermittent power failures the previous 2 days or so.

I'm not talking about the accident. I'm talking about the statement the govt will pay for it. It could be a simple mechanical problem. Or a disgruntled employee throwing a monkey wrench into the works. But yes. They need to find out what happened before running off half cocked and just opening the wallet.

That is a very good point. In fact, by the knee-jerk reaction announcing that the Government would pay for the damage and repair with the Taxpayers' money, Biden has opened the door for speculations that it might not have been just a simple accident due to power failure.......

Maersk stock was headed to zero. As soon as the statement was made it stabilized and climbed a little. Time enough to dump it.

.......and something like that certainly doesn't help.

Ideally I would like to see financial liability assigned to those responsible. However, for me, that is downstream from what should be our primary inquiry

That part I would totally agree with. Biden should have stressed the need of an urgent and complete investigation into the accident and then offered to rebuild the bridge. After all, like MHS points out, the bridge was part of a vital highway link and its loss is going to lead to considerable commuter disruption in a very busy area. Therefore, it would be required to be rebuilt ASAP with whatever funds that are at hand and that is usually the taxpayer's money. But the POTUS could then have announced that the final accountability would firmly depend on the results of the investigation and revelation of the cause(s).

Again, I'm not sure how these things work in the US but if Government funds are used to rebuild the bridge and while that is being done the investigation reveals that poor maintenance was the cause, can they then resort to legal proceedings to recover the funds from those accountable? If so, from whom? More specifically, who can be held responsible?

MV Dali is a Singapore-registered container ship completed in 2015 and owned by Grace Ocean Pte Ltd (Singaporean). As of March 2024, the vessel is chartered by Maersk (Danish) and managed and operated by Synergy Marine Group.

 

[Bob Read]

Because a ship has a questionable maintenance record does not mean that should be the default explanation for the incident. It definitely should be an avenue of investigation but to have tunnel vision on maintenance as the cause is a poor investigative technique.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Cargo ship black box reveals intense moments leading up to Baltimore bridge collapse​

Click on:

MSN

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Guys. gals and any popular variations on a theme: Let's be crystal clear: I will NOT indulge the usual collections of what ifs and whatabouts which go along with conspiracy theories, the likes of which I see being kicked around here.

It's like the ridiculous Olympic/Titanic ship switch theory: They never hold up under close scrutiny, you all know it, so put an end to it.

 

[Bob Read]

Guys. gals and any popular variations on a theme: Let's be crystal clear: I will NOT indulge the usual collections of what ifs and whatabouts which go along with conspiracy theories, the likes of which I see being kicked around here.

It's like the ridiculous Olympic/Titanic ship switch theory: They never hold up under close scrutiny, you all know it, so put an end to it.

If you think I am proposing a conspiracy theory, I am not. Neither will I accept a facile explanation before the investigation is complete. What if the first report of Titanic’s sinking was that it was just an unfortunate accident that was just one of those freak things? For as many years as this forum has been in existence every sort of theory has been put forward to explain it. Why not wait for all the facts to be revealed this matter? Just because the internet is rife with bogus conspiracy theories doesn’t mean there is no such thing as a conspiracy. People go to jail every day for engaging in conspiracies. Do a thorough investigation and let the chips fall where they may.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

You have a point there Bob. I think what's happening these days is that the "Conspiracy vs Logical Explanation" camps are so polarized that unbiased opining about high-profile events has become difficult. On one hand we've had some ridiculous conspiracy theories like the Olympic / Titanic switch, countless "explanations" of JFK's assassination, how bombs blew-up the Twin Towers and so on; on the other, there is the sometimes but not always right belief that there must be an "Act of God" explanation to almost everything where there isn't the proverbial smoking gun evidence. Therefore, what is required is an unbiased and thorough open-minded investigation into such matters but that's not always forthcoming because of the political, corporate, financial or even personal agendas involved.

 

[Bob Read]

Therefore, what is required is an unbiased and thorough open-minded investigation into such matters but that's not always forthcoming because of the political, corporate, financial or even personal agendas involved.

There’s the rub. We should wait for a thorough investigation but will it be? Alternatively, the investigation itself may be thorough but the communication of those results by politicians could succumb to political considerations. Trust in what our politicians tell us is a rare commodity nowadays. Too often it seems that they lie as a reflex action when the truth would serve them better.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

Just because the internet is rife with bogus conspiracy theories doesn’t mean there is no such thing as a conspiracy.

That's true and that fact is something that can actually be used to advantage by intelligent and resourceful conspirators, depending on what's being planned of course. Almost all the moronic conspiracy theories were proposed in the last 30 years, even those of hostorical events like the Titanic; Robin Gardiner put forth the Olympic switch theory in his 1998 book, for example. One has to assume that advent of the internet and social media has a lot to do with it and the usual result is that most such theories eventually get discredited and dismissed. Theoretically at least, there is the possibility that genuine conspirators behind a planned major tragic event can use that situation to their advantage by deliberately proposing a theory so ridiculous that it quickly gets dismissed; but there is the danger that along with such a dismissal, even a plausible explanation of foul-play gets rejected.

 

[Rancor]

Where is the evidence that this was caused by a maintenance problem? The part that is correct in your assertion is that at this point the public has been shown ZERO evidence for any cause. A lot of people in the government insisted that the Covid virus arose naturally. There are a lot of bad actors with ill intent in this world and it would be irresponsible to rule anything out before the investigation is complete.

The weight of scientific evidence suggests that Covid 19 did arise naturally. The political response can and should be debated but an informed discussion can only take place if we follow the best available evidence.

The same is true with the tragedy in Baltimore.

 

[Bob Read]

The weight of scientific evidence suggests that Covid 19 did arise naturally.

So who decides what is the best available evidence?

 

[Rancor]

So who decides what is the best available evidence?

Virologists, scientists and medical professionals who have spent decades studying and researching.

 

[Bob Read]

Virologists, scientists and medical professionals who have spent decades studying and researching.

So why do these same professionals disagree? How many of them are employed by the government? Believe what you want. The performance of these same scientists during the pandemic should give anyone cause for doubt in them.

 

[Rancor]

So why do these same professionals disagree? How many of them are employed by the government? Believe what you want.

You are correct, many do disagree; no complex issue ever has 100% agreement, from pandemics, to climate change, to the sinking of the Titanic.

To bring the discussion back on topic, perhaps we could list the possible causes of the power outage and subsequent loss of control of the Dali from most to least likely? Could provoke some interesting further discussion.

There's some excellent videos on the subject already for those interested, may I recommend Ward Carroll's interview with Sal Mercogliano:

 

[Steven Christian]

You are correct, many do disagree; no complex issue ever has 100% agreement, from pandemics, to climate change, to the sinking of the Titanic.

To bring the discussion back on topic, perhaps we could list the possible causes of the power outage and subsequent loss of control of the Dali from most to least likely? Could provoke some interesting further discussion.

There's some excellent videos on the subject already for those interested, may I recommend Ward Carroll's interview with Sal Mercogliano:

I will watch this later when I have more time. I like Ward Carrols videos. Watched many of them. An F-14 pilot with lots of good stories. I used to work on those jets. But I did watch another video about this incident from a ships engineer. Somebody that has actually done the job. His conclusion was at this point it was a common failure of the generator system. But he also said that to be sure there needs to be an investigation. He had some interesting points on what he thought happened because he had been in similar situations. I won't go into all of it because it would be too long a post. But he said that big black puff of smoke was indicative that the captain order full astern power and if the rudder was set to turn port going forward that would cause the ship to veer starboard like it did and smack the bridge pylon. He also made the point that the whole thing was only about 4 minutes long. Like Titanic not enough time to react moving a big ship. Another thing he pointed out that I didn't know was ships are not allowed to enter or leave US ports burning regular fuel. They have to switch to low sulfur fuel. But I doubt that was factor with this incident. Just an interesting side note.