Bridges are getting safer – but their designers need to keep up with the ever-growing size of cargo ships.
When the container ship MV Dali, 300 metres long and massing around 100,000 tonnes, lost power and slammed into one of the support piers of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, the bridge collapsed in moments. Six people are presumed dead, several others injured, and the city and region are expecting a months-long logistical nightmare in the absence of a crucial transport link.
A 20th century bridge meets a 21st century ship The Francis Scott Key Bridge was built through the mid 1970s and opened in 1977. The main structure over the navigation channel is a “continuous truss bridge” in three sections or spans. Fenders are not intended to absorb impacts from very large vessels. And so when the MV Dali, weighing more than 100,000 tonnes, made it past the protective dolphins, it was simply far too massive for the fender to withstand.
Bridges are getting safer This was not the first time a ship hit the Francis Scott Bridge. There was another collision in 1980, damaging a fender badly enough that it had to be replaced.
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