https://i.pinimg.com/736x/1c/6e/f8/1c6ef8db981c77b1bd7809827...
Ironically there are power lines running in parallel that have much more substantial protection, here you can see the powerline protection and the tiny bumpers...
https://patabook.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/cbsn-fu...
Doesn't sound plausible to me. Very large Panamax ships were used in the 1970's when the bridge was built.
https://www.container-transportation.com/worlds-largest-cont...
The ship that knocked down the bridge could weigh ("DWT") up to 115 000 tons.
Some ships from the 1960s and 1970s:
Universe Ireland: Launched in 1968, it had a DWT of over 300 000 tons.
Esso Atlantic (1977): DWT of over 500 000 tons.
But these were tankers. You're right that container ships were not as big back then.
One of the larger container ships when the bridge was built in 1977 was MV Hamburg Express. It was 280 meters long, 32 meters wide, and had a DWT of 50 000 tons.
Do you really think a 280 meter long ship weighing 50 000 tons would not have knocked down the bridge in exactly the same way?
There were container ships with a DWT of 50 000 tons when the bridge was built.
There were also tankers with 10x that (500 000 tons), so large and heavy ships shouldn't be a Pikachu-face surprise to the bridge designers. If nothing else, the trend in increasing ship sizes was clear to anyone looking at it.
Do you think the bridge steel pylons would have resisted a 50 000 tons ship plowing into them?