In the early hours of this morning [26 March 2024], a container ship crashed into the 1.6-mile long Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland causing it to collapse into the water below.
The vessel involved in the incident is the DALI, which MarineTraffic reports has a length of 299.92m and a width of 48.2m, bearing the flag of Singapore. The DALI was leaving the Port of Baltimore en route to the Port of Colombo in Sri Lanka.
Global shipping and logistics company Maersk confirmed that it had chartered the DALI and the cargo on board belonged to one of it’s customers. In a statement, it said that it was ‘horrified by what has happened in Baltimore’ and its ‘thoughts are with all of those affected’.
The statement went on to confirm that no Maersk crew were on board the vessel and added that the company is ‘closely following the investigations conducted by authorities and [Synergy Marine Group, which manages the DALI]’, and will do its utmost to keep its customers informed.
In a statement on its website, Synergy Marine Group said that ‘all crew members, including the two pilots have been accounted for and there are no reports of any injuries’. It confirms that there were 22 crew members on board.
A live stream of the the bridge on the YouTube channel StreamTime Live shows the DALI’s impact with one of the bridge’s pillars at around 01:30 EDT, causing the bridge to collapse in a matter of seconds. Several vehicles on the bridge can be seen falling into the Patapsco River.
Addressing the press, Baltimore City Fire Department Chief James Wallace said: “At about 01:50, our first unit arrived on scene and reported a complete collapse of the key bridge.
“We were also given information at that time that there were likely multiple people on the bridge at the time of the collapse and that, as a result, multiple people were in the water.
“We were able to remove two people from the water, one individual […] was not injured. However there was another individual that has been transported to a local trauma centre, that is in very serious condition.”
Emergency teams are reportedly looking for “upwards of seven individuals”. Wallace said that there is “a large area to search”, including “on the surface of the water, sub-surface as well as on the deck of the ship itself”.
Although unable to confirm the exact number, Wallace said: “I can tell you our sonar has detected the presence of vehicles submerged in the water.” He explained that there had been reports of the smell of diesel fuel but there has been no confirmation yet as to whether or not there has been an oil spill. This is being investigated by the local environmental department and the coastguard.
Lars Jensen, CEO of Danish container shipping consultancy Vespucci Maritime, spoke on how the collapse of the Key Bridge would impact supply chains in a post of LinkedIn. He said: “The bridge collapse will mean that for the time being it will not be possible to get to the container terminals – or a range of the other port terminals – in Baltimore.
“In 2023 the terminals handled 1.1 million TEU. This is some 21,000 TEU per week which now has to be routed through other ports in the region. Additionally this means the cargo already gated into the Baltimore terminals would have to either wait an unknown period for the sealane to reopen, or be gated back out and shifted to a different port.”
