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At Least 424 Cargo Ships Lost Power In U.S. Waters Over The Last 3 Years

8
Erin Marquis
·3 min read
The bow of the container ship Dali is seen in the wreckage of Francis Scott Key Bridge, on April 2, 2024, a week after it hit a structural pier causing a catastrophic bridge collapse. - Photo: Jerry Jackson/The Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service (Getty Images)
The bow of the container ship Dali is seen in the wreckage of Francis Scott Key Bridge, on April 2, 2024, a week after it hit a structural pier causing a catastrophic bridge collapse. - Photo: Jerry Jackson/The Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service (Getty Images)

After the MV Dali brought down the Franklin Key Bridge in Baltimore, folks wondered how this could happen, and could it happen again? As if to answer this unspoken question, it almost immediately happened again: the APL Qingdao lost power near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York Harbor earlier this month.

The really bad news is, Americans have been lucky so far.

Ships are complex machines the size of buildings, so it’s a little surprising to hear the process for handling them around American waters is rather loosey goosey. The Washington Postfound that at least 424 cargo ships over 600 feet in length lost power in U.S. waters in the last three years. Ships keep getting bigger, but the ports they operate in stay the same size — a disaster in the making, according to the Post: