The safety investigation into the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore, Maryland, will include whether contaminated fuel was a factor in the cargo ship losing power and colliding with the bridge.
Investigators were not on board the 948-foot container ship Dali as of late Tuesday, and the ship remains stuck in a collapsed bridge column and could be mothballed for weeks. Rescue teams spent much of Tuesday searching for potential survivors, but authorities announced the search and rescue had been changed to a recovery operation.
Dali’s lights began flickering early Tuesday morning, about an hour into the cruise. The pilot and assistant at the port reported power problems and loss of propulsion before the crash, according to a Coast Guard report.
“The ship has broken down, the steering power and electronics have failed,” the ship’s crew said on Tuesday. “One of the engines started coughing and then stopped. The smell of burnt fuel wafted through the engine room and it was pitch black.”
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A Coast Guard vessel secures the perimeter at the site of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S., March 26, 2024. (Reuters/Julia Nickinson)
The navigator said the ship did not have enough time to drop anchor to stop the drifting and the crew issued a mayday call before the accident occurred.
Although power outages at sea are rare, they do occur and have long been considered a significant accident risk for ships at sea.
Naval architect Fotis Pagratos said one cause of ship power outages is contaminated fuel, which can cause problems with the main generator. He said a complete power outage could cause the ship to lose propulsion, and while a small generator could come on, it would not be able to take on all the functions of the main generator and would take a long time to start up. He said it would take a while.
National Transportation Safety Board Secretary Jennifer Homendy said at a news conference that the investigation will include a review of the operational and safety records of the vessel and its owners and operators.
The crew considers securing a recorder from the ship to learn what happened leading up to the crash.
“This is a team effort,” Homendy said. “There are a lot of entities in the command post right now.”
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A view of the Dali cargo ship that collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing its collapse on March 26, 2024 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. (Reuters/Julia Nickinson)
The ship, built by South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries, has undergone more than 20 port control inspections (inspections of foreign vessels at domestic ports) since its construction in 2015, according to data from international shipping database Equasis.
None of the inspections resulted in detention, but detention could occur if the vessel is deemed unseaworthy. However, two of his reviews listed flaws. One in which she described damage to the ship’s hull in Belgium in July 2016, and one in which she described problems with the ship’s propulsion system and auxiliary machinery in Chile in June 2023.
The U.S. Coast Guard completed an inspection of the ship in September 2023 and found no problems.
On Tuesday’s trip, the ship was operated by Singapore-based Synergy Marine Group and was carrying cargo for Danish shipping giant AP Moller-Maersk. The ship departed from a terminal in the Port of Baltimore and was headed to Sri Lanka. The ship is owned by the Singaporean company Grace Ocean.
Although power outages at sea are rare, they do occur and have long been considered a significant accident risk for ships at sea. (Reuters/Julia Nickinson)
Port officials said two tugboats helped the ship leave the terminal on Tuesday, but it was refloated early in the journey. Two pilots and 22 crew members from India were on board the ship at the time of the crash, Synergy Marine spokesman Darrell Wilson said.
Officials said the ship was traveling at about 9.2 miles per hour, a typical speed for ships in the area. A ship as large as Dali must maintain a constant speed to avoid being swept away by wind and ocean currents.
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The bridge collapse is expected to trigger a series of multibillion-dollar insurance claims covering the loss of the structure itself and disruption to businesses using the port, insurance analysts said. Victims of a crash can also file a claim for compensation against the vessel operator.
The bridge was built in 1977 at a cost of more than $60 million, which, adjusted for inflation, would cost about $300 million today.
The Wall Street Journal contributed to this report.
