Maryland: Ship hits Francis Scott Key Bridge causing it to collapse

[Boiler 47,935]

The Companies only asset is the ship, I assume their liability will be the value of the ship bplus the freight, but the US element is unknown to me. 

[Dashinka 26,116]

10 hours ago, yuna628 said:

The company has already filed paperwork to attempt to get out of paying for very much. I think we really need to overhaul our maritime laws. We managed to open a small channel today but it's not very deep. At least it was enough a few things were tugged through it.

What about the company that employed the local river pilots?

[Boiler 47,935]

14 minutes ago, Dashinka said:

What about the company that employed the local river pilots?

The State of Maryland? Or the ship operator? Under Marine Law the owner is responsible for the operator.

[yuna628 9,901]

3 hours ago, Dashinka said:

What about the company that employed the local river pilots?

Maritime law is complicated and weird. The company that owns the boat is responsible for whomever is piloting it no matter if it is a different pilot I think. Isn't that kind of like some state car insurance rules where the insurance follows the car and not the driver (that is how it is in this state)?

 

In the incident where Ever Forward ran aground due to both pilot's negligence it was the owner of the ship that agreed to pay the state roughly $700,000 in damages. This is probably not the actual cost of the damage they caused, but it was the best we could get because it would have been too expensive to litigate. That money didn't actually go toward the habitat it destroyed, and there was a political fight which county was going to receive that money to build a new habitat.

 

I have heard that the Dali's bow is currently stuck on the bottom of the river, but also on top of a gas line and potentially some sort of water supply structure.

Edited April 2, 2024 by yuna628

[Boiler 47,935]

Apart from maybe 2 specific locations the Master is always in charge of the ship. Not the Pilot.

 

There are a lot of pipes and the boat is pinned so it needs to be released, if it is still stuck I would think they will start taking off the cargo.

[Boiler 47,935]

 

[Ban Hammer 14,477]

and another ship has a problem in the same bay, just after it got past the remains of the key bridge
 

BALTIMORE — The Coast Guard and local partners are responding to reports of an explosion aboard the 751-foot merchant vessel W-Sapphire in Baltimore Harbor, Monday 18th Aug 2025.

Responders from Coast Guard Sector Maryland – National Capital Region were dispatched to the area to assist. No injuries have been reported at this time and the cause of the explosion is under investigation.

The Coast Guard has established a 2,000-yard safety zone around the incident location, spanning from the Key Bridge to Brewerton Angle Channel LB “14”.

Reports state the fire has been extinguished and plans for the vessel are being formulated.

At approximately 6:30 p.m., Sector Maryland – National Capital Region watchstanders received a call over VHF channel 16 from the W-Sapphire sating their had been an explosion aboard the vessel.

The W-Sapphire was outbound from Baltimore Harbor with 23 crewmembers and 2 pilots aboard and was south of Fort Carroll at the time of the explosion. The report stated the vessel was transporting coal.

more at https://maritimesutra.com/2025/08/19/bulk-carrier-w-sapphire-explodes-off-baltimore-uscg-responds/
 

Edited August 19 by Ban Hammer

[yuna628 9,901]

4 hours ago, Ban Hammer said:

and another ship has a problem in the same bay, just after it got past the remains of the key bridge
 

BALTIMORE — The Coast Guard and local partners are responding to reports of an explosion aboard the 751-foot merchant vessel W-Sapphire in Baltimore Harbor, Monday 18th Aug 2025.

Responders from Coast Guard Sector Maryland – National Capital Region were dispatched to the area to assist. No injuries have been reported at this time and the cause of the explosion is under investigation.

The Coast Guard has established a 2,000-yard safety zone around the incident location, spanning from the Key Bridge to Brewerton Angle Channel LB “14”.

Reports state the fire has been extinguished and plans for the vessel are being formulated.

At approximately 6:30 p.m., Sector Maryland – National Capital Region watchstanders received a call over VHF channel 16 from the W-Sapphire sating their had been an explosion aboard the vessel.

The W-Sapphire was outbound from Baltimore Harbor with 23 crewmembers and 2 pilots aboard and was south of Fort Carroll at the time of the explosion. The report stated the vessel was transporting coal.

more at https://maritimesutra.com/2025/08/19/bulk-carrier-w-sapphire-explodes-off-baltimore-uscg-responds/
 

Yeah my sister called me last night about this. Said it shook the apartment!

[Ban Hammer 14,477]

1 hour ago, yuna628 said:

Yeah my sister called me last night about this. Said it shook the apartment!

what i find odd is - apparently shipping coal to other countries is a thing?  it just seems strange that we can't have coal fired base load electrical generation 
in the usa, but we ship tons of it elsewhere to be burned.

[TBoneTX 47,937]

4 hours ago, Ban Hammer said:

strange that we can't have coal fired base load electrical generation in the usa, but we ship tons of it elsewhere to be burned.

That's so the U.S. can adhere to all the one-sided "save the planet" environmental treaties, whereas third-world countries can continue to pollute.

[yuna628 9,901]

17 hours ago, Ban Hammer said:

what i find odd is - apparently shipping coal to other countries is a thing?  it just seems strange that we can't have coal fired base load electrical generation 
in the usa, but we ship tons of it elsewhere to be burned.

 

As far as I can tell we have exported coal for decades and it is a big business for states where the coal comes from. We are the top exporter to Africa, which is where I think this shipment was going. PoB handles many coal shipments. We became relied upon as the top exporter to other countries, especially in Europe because of the ban on Russian coal. With no other supplier, countries turned to us. The coal being supplied is for steel purposes and power. We also do import from other countries and we certainly use it for power. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/coal/use-of-coal.php

[Ban Hammer 14,477]

22 hours ago, yuna628 said:

 

As far as I can tell we have exported coal for decades and it is a big business for states where the coal comes from. We are the top exporter to Africa, which is where I think this shipment was going. PoB handles many coal shipments. We became relied upon as the top exporter to other countries, especially in Europe because of the ban on Russian coal. With no other supplier, countries turned to us. The coal being supplied is for steel purposes and power. We also do import from other countries and we certainly use it for power. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/coal/use-of-coal.php

i just find it odd that "omg coal burning is bad, think of the planet" so we must go green (and that results in higher electric bills) - yet we continue to ship coal elsewhere to be burned.  NIMBY at work.