Re:The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland Has C...
by ProllyInfamous on Tuesday March 26, 2024 @03:28PM
(#39831849)
How about instead of adding "bumpers," it becomes required for a tug boat to help guide past infrastructure spans like bridges, rail, gas.
Re:The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland Has C...
by 16bytes on Tuesday March 26, 2024 @05:06PM
(#39832866)
There is already something like this in use: harbor pilots, who have specialized knowledge of specific ports and board vessels to navigate them through critical transit zones. It is reported that there were pilots on board navigating at the time of the collision.
Tugs are used in tight locations, but they can only change a ship's speed at a very slow rate compared to that ship's engines. By analogy, you can pull a train car and get it moving by yourself, but if that thing is moving at 5mph you aren't stopping it by yourself in any reasonable distance.
Re:The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland Has C...
by ProllyInfamous on Tuesday March 26, 2024 @10:22PM
(#39835080)
I feel that in this situation a nearby tug boat could have diverted the ship (by at least kept it from straying from the shipping channel during power failure).
Re:The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland Has C...
by 16bytes on Wednesday March 27, 2024 @03:13PM
(#39843362)
I think you're probably right. A tug (or two) hypothetically could've provided some emergency directional control.
When they reopen the port, it'll be interesting to see what early mitigations they put in place.
To make damage from collisions "impossible" you'd have to build embankments up so high that the bridge would effectively be sitting on solid ground the entire way across and no ships could pass anywhere.
Sure, there are ways to mitigate collisions and the new bridge they build will no doubt be more resilient, but it's not realistic to completely eliminate such risk.