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Singapore is investigating the Baltimore bridge collapse
Insights from The Atlantic, Forbes, and The Washington Post
The News
Singapore is launching dual investigations into the Baltimore bridge collapse to determine whether any of its laws were broken, as the cargo ship that crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge is owned by a Singapore-based company.
“Our officers will work closely with the U.S. Coast Guard and agencies to fully support the investigations,” the city-state’s Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat said Wednesday.
The ship, called the Dali, reportedly lost power early Tuesday while sailing out of the Baltimore harbor enroute to Sri Lanka, smashing into the bridge and sending vehicles careening into the river below. Six people reported missing after the crash are now presumed dead, and two victims have been confirmed.
The collapse could have a significant impact on the U.S. supply chain, as Baltimore is one of the country’s biggest ports for cars and light trucks.
SIGNALS
Collision was likely not pilot error, experts say
The ship was being guided by local pilots whose expertise is used to precisely avoid such crashes, a former transportation official told CNN. But one shipping expert said the collision was likely not the result of a pilot error, as they serve more as advisors to the captain and crew who do the steering, and “anything that happens on that ship is the (captain’s) responsibility.” But experts agree that the loss of power on such an oversized ship would make it nearly impossible to steer. Investigators are also looking into whether contaminated fuel may have caused the ship to lose power, The Wall Street Journal reported, as it can impact the vessel’s power generators.
Rebuilding the bridge could take years and cost millions
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Wednesday that rebuilding the bridge “will not be quick, or easy, or cheap.” Reconstruction can’t begin until the National Transportation Safety Board determines the condition of the bridge’s remaining sections, he said. The Coast Guard said its “highest priority now is restoring the waterway for shipping.” Experts told The Washington Post that rebuilding will “probably take years” and cost hundreds of millions of dollars, though the shipping route from the Port of Baltimore could be cleared in months. President Joe Biden has pledged that the federal government will pay for the repairs.
The symbolic loss of Baltimore’s harbor
For Baltimore, the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge and the closure of its port, symbolizes more than structural damage, Atlantic editor Rachel Gutman-Wei wrote in an ode to the bridge. “Baltimore Harbor is one of the city’s most important links to the rest of the world; to cut it off is to clog our blood supply,” she wrote. The city’s economy is deeply rooted in the harbor: “Ships are in the city’s bones. The brackish harbor is in its heart.” Despite the harbor’s pollution and the fact that much of the city’s infrastructure is crumbling owing to corruption-riddled administrations, looking out on the harbor “used to be an exercise in optimism,” Gutman-Wei wrote. It’s now “an exercise in mourning and resolve.”
