The Singapore-flagged container vessel Dali, which is chartered by the Danish shipping giant Maersk, crushed into a road bridge in Baltimore, US.
The Francis Scott Bridge over Patapsco River collapsed around 1.30 am (Baltimore time) on 26 March, after being hit by the 10,000 TEU boxship, which was chartered by Maersk and is deployed on an Asia-US East Coast service.
Dali was operated on one of the 2M alliance’s services, called TP12 by Maersk and Empire by MSC. The Israeli ocean carrier ZIM also has slots on this service, which the company has named ZBA service.
The ship owner appears to be Grace Ocean Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based company owned by the Abe family of Japan, who is also behind Japanese tonnage provider Nissen Kaiun.
“We can confirm that the container vessel Dali, operated by charter vessel company Synergy Group, is time chartered by Maersk and is carrying Maersk customers’ cargo. No Maersk crew and personnel were onboard the vessel,” said a Maersk spokesperson. “We are closely following the investigations conducted by authorities and Synergy, and we will do our utmost to keep our customers informed.”
“The bridge had been struck by ‘a large vessel’ causing it to collapse into the Patapsco River. There are as many as seven individuals and several vehicles have fallen into the river,” confirmed Chief Kevin Cartwright, director of communications for the Baltimore City Fire Department.
“All lanes closed in both directions for the incident on I-695 Key Bridge. Traffic is being detoured,” stated Mayor Brandon M. Scott of the Maryland Transportation Authority and Baltimore County executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. said that emergency personnel were responding and rescue efforts are underway.
Footage quickly began to circulate on social media showing a large portion of the 1.6-mile bridge falling into the water.
A terrible accident at Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. After a collision with MV Dali a container ship (300m/9971 TEU).
The 1.6 mile steel arched bridge has subsequently collapsed.
My thoughts are with all who remain unaccounted for. 😔pic.twitter.com/hMLQ6zA37f
— 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝗹 (@SeafarerMichael) March 26, 2024
Chief Cartwright emphasised that the main focus is now the attempts to rescue and recover the people who have fallen in the water, pointing out that it’s too early to know how many people have been affected.
The Baltimore City Fire Department has called this a mass casualty event.
“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,” said container shipping analyst, Lars Jensen.
He went on to explain, “This means the cargo already gated into the Baltimore terminals would have to either wait an unknown period for the sea lane to reopen or be gated back out and shifted to a different port.”
Jensen pointed out that multiple merchant vessels are now “trapped” in the port of Baltimore.
Antonis Karamalegkos
Managing Editor
Ioanna Kontos
Editor
