The most serious bridge collision in the United States since the 1980 Tampa Skyway Bridge disaster occurred in the early hours of the morning of the 26th of March 2024, while the ship was under pilotage.
One of the most important bridges in Baltimore collapsed after being struck by a container ship, sending vehicles plunging into the water and threatening chaos in one of the East Coast’s most important ports in the United States. Unfortunately, it is described as an incident with many casualties, with up to 20 people in the water.
The ship involved is the Dali, a 32,000-ton ship, built in 2015, sailing under the flag of Singapore, and had approximately 4,900 containers on board at the time of the incident.
The bridge allows commercial ships to enter the Port of Baltimore, one of the major ports in the United States in terms of volume and value of goods. It is the largest port in the United States for handling cars and light trucks.
At least 21 ships are in the waters west of the collapsed bridge. About half of them are tugs. There are also at least three bulk carriers, a vehicle carrier, and a small tanker.
The Port of Baltimore handled 847,158 cars and light trucks in 2023, more than any other port in the United States for the thirteenth consecutive year, according to a Maryland state website. The port also handled large volumes of imported sugar, gypsum, and coffee, as well as exported coal.
The Dali was carrying containers from East Asia to the East Coast of the United States via the Panama Canal. It can carry the equivalent of about 9,700 containers, about half the size of the industry’s largest ships. It arrived at the Seagirt Marine Terminal in Baltimore on March 24 after delivering to the Port of New York/New Jersey and had unloaded a small number of containers before attempting its return journey to Asia early Tuesday morning.
