The States: Maybe A National Divorce Is A Good Idea After All

[rufus]

Tug Boat support comes to mind? I imagine there are many things that could have been done. At least I like to believe that. I believe in Engineering.

$$$$$$$

 

[bronconick]

Tug Boat support comes to mind? I imagine there are many things that could have been done. At least I like to believe that. I believe in Engineering.

More like a fleet of tugs. Getting a stuck Ever Given out of the Suez Canal took 14, and this was a similar sized barge, I believe.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

More like a fleet of tugs. Getting a stuck Ever Given out of the Suez Canal took 14, and this was a similar sized barge, I believe.

It will be interesting to see what changes they make. They're not going to build the new bridge and have the same scenario be able to take it out again.

 

[Handyman]

To put in perspective how big this ship was...it is larger than the tallest skyscraper in Cleveland. I don't think a tugboat would have helped much. It's like the idiots aaking why they didn't throw anchor (like it's a phucking fishing boat) even if you could on the fly pretty sure Newton has some thoughts as to why that won't work.

 

[St. Clown]

When I was in San Juan, I watched a cargo ship like that come into port. The ship was guided by two tugs, one stern and the other aft. If the idea being proffered was to have tugs guide in and out of port, it happens elsewhere.

 

[aparch]

Some was done. The protection around the power pole is pretty large, and there was one dolphin installed. But it was far enough away that the ship fit neatly behind it.

To say “meh, nothing could have been done”- yea not so much. Could have lessened the impact on shipping- deflect it enough to totally damage the bride but keep the shipping lane open.

And then we have a Suez Canal situation with a grounded boat you can't unload blocking the canal.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Might it still have deflected it slightly enough if it was placed better? (I have no actual idea, just curious.) It doesn't necessarily have to stop it completely, just angle it or take a bit of the edge off?

I mean maybe? But again, that kind of assumes that the ship doesn't just push the dolphin out of the way or completely dislodge it. I read someone who has (apparently) looked into these before and they have literally never been tested in action like this. Maybe they've worked like the tire guides in a car wash, but never for a direct strike of a ship this large.

the momentum of this is almost impossible to put into words. If an average 15,000-ton freight train was traveling 100 mph, that's what you'd need to somehow stop in like ten to twenty feet. I just don't think the physics lend itself to the cost vs frequency vs consequences.

in industry this would be where you start to look at layers of protection analyses. In aviation we'd gotten that down to a science before Boeing fucked it up. Shipping should have the same protections aircraft do. The consequences are so, so much worse for boat disasters. The last (and to my knowledge, the only) time a plane disaster caused billions of economic impact, it was on 9/11. I can name two in the last five years for boats. I'm guessing there are more.

 

[dxmnkd316]

There's a picture floating around of the aftermath from a helicopter or drone shot. The boat went through the bridge support by like 40 feet. I'd link the Bluesky post but the author went semi private.

 

[MichVandal]

The dolphin would be designed to move. So even when it DOES, there is less energy for the bridge to absorb. Let alone, it would not rip a whole in the vessel.

The whole point is to reduce the damage to structural only and not blocking the water.