cruise ship bridge video

Cruise Ship Bridge: Fully Explained (inc Bridge Tour)

You might hear the bridge of the ship mentioned in passing, but it’s not an area of the ship most passengers ever get to see.

So, what goes on in the bridge, why is it called that, who works there, and what do they do?

Well, read on to find out the answers to all your bridge-related curiosities.

What Is The Bridge On A Cruise Ship?

The cruise ship bridge is the command center,  located at the front of the ship on the upper decks.  It’s the area of the ship where all the ship’s controls to navigate the ship is located, it’s the equivalent of a large cockpit area.

It is from here that the cruise captain and bridge crew members take their positions and carry out their navigational duties.

The bridge area is typically made of reinforced glass, giving a clear wide view of the waters and conditions ahead.

Accordingly, the bridge of a ship is the area from which the primary functions of directing and controlling the speed are actioned.

Why Is It Called A Bridge On a Ship

The term “bridge” originates from the days of paddle steamers when a raised walkway was put up across both paddle houses, creating a bridge so that both sides and paddle wheels of the ship could be viewed by the captain from the quarter-deck.

For a full history of the bridge’s origins on a ship, watch this video .

Even though nowadays, a more modern term might, cruise ship control room, might have been used, the nautical term has stuck.

Cruise Ship Bridge Crew Members

There several deck officers working on the bridging, including:

Cruise captain:  is the head of the navigational bridge teams and carries out or oversee’s all navigational elements of the ship.

Officer of the Watch :  is responsible for watching the ship’s navigation, ensuring a smooth sail.  Basically the person currently in charge of driving the ship.

Assistant Officer of the Watch : Assisting the OOW.

Quartermaster Lookout : Lookout for obstacles as well as other navigational duties.

Harbor Pilots: Come aboard from local ports with expert knowledge of the local waters and conditions and assist the bridge team in docking or departing.

Interestingly, when a harbor pilot comes abroad is one of the few times a deck officer takes the helm and uses the ship’s wheel .

Bridge teams work in rotation, with teams working a set number of hours off while replaced by another.  Usually, three teams are working the rotation. 

In Captain Kates’s video, she stated that “three different teams worked every 4 hours on and 8 hours off”.

Although there is only one captain, who can be contacted 24/7 if required, the captain’s quarters can be accessed directly from the bridge.  

Cruise Ship Bridge Layout

The cruise bridge has a central cockpit from which all the ship’s maneuvers can be controlled.

When coming or leaving a pier, the command controls can be transferred to either one of the bridge wings.

Cruise Ship Bridge Wing

Cruise bridge wings is a glass surround extension on either side of the bridge.  

Whichever side the ship is coming into port, port or starboard , the bridge wing gives an excellent view of the port and the length of the cruise ship.  

There is often a glass floor on the bridge wing so the crew can even see what’s directly beneath them.

It’s much like a wing mirror on a car, just one you can walk into.

Each bridge wing has its own set of command controls which gives the bridge crew an important and clear first-hand view of when they are docking or when a harbor pilot is coming onboard via the shell door or departing the ship.

Cruise Ship Bridge Tour (Who Offers Them, How Much, Any Videos)

Some cruise ships offer cruise tours to passengers onboard, so check your onboard activities to see if you can book one.  The numbers are limited, so they quickly sell out.  

However, for now, what better bridge tour than the one by Captain Kate?  

In the video below, she gives a bridge tour of Celebrity Edge.

Open Bridge Policy

Some cruise ships, typically smaller ones or expedition cruise ships, have an open bridge policy that allows passengers to go up to the bridge area outside of busy periods, such as when undertaking docking maneuvers that require full attention.

Cruise lines with known open bridge policies include:

• Star Clippers

Bridge Equipment

These days the vast majority of the navigational equipment is electrical.  There is little or no need for any paper maps or charts.

A cruise ship bridge is made up of multiple stations. 

There are also multiple monitors displaying varying navigational information.  As well as some other monitors displaying the live status of key areas of the ship.

Navigation Displays include showing:

• Compass – gyro magnetic compasses
• Radars – with various ranges
• Route to destinations
• Satellite Navigation Systems indicate the global positioning
• Estimate time of arrival at the destination
• Ships speed
• Wind speed & direction
• Clock for time
• Echo Sounder
• Engine room alarm panel

There will be individual controls and monitors for the current status of:

• Azipods for propulsion
• Ballast Control Unit
• Bow Thrusters for maneuvering
• Dynamic Positioning System

There will also be extra related rooms near the bridge used by deck offices, including:

• Meeting room
• Safety Room

Why is A Cruise Ship Bridge Dark At Night?

It is a legal requirement for cruise ship bridge lights to be turned off at night.  If the lights were on it would make it more difficult for the deck officers, including the lookout, to get a clear view of what’s around and some possible obstacles that could be missed.

Although there are no main lights on in the bridge, all the controls and monitors are lit up and the ship’s navigational lights are on as well.

Here’s a video of bridge controls at night to give you an idea.  Although it’s not a cruise ship, it gives you an idea of what some stations would be like.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the difference between a wheelhouse and a bridge.

A wheelhouse and a bridge on modern-day ships essentially refer to the same thing, the only difference being their size.

On a large cruise ship, the ship’s command center spans the front of the upper decks, referred to as a bridge.

On a smaller vessel, for example, a river cruise ship, the much smaller command room will more likely be referred to as the Wheelhouse.

Related Posts

What is the Draft of a Cruise Ship? (and Why Does it Matter?)

How Many Doors on a Cruise Ship? (Yes, I Counted)

Leave a comment cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Princess Bridge Cams

• Caribbean Princess
• Coral Princess
• Crown Princess
• Diamond Princess
• Discovery Princess
• Emerald Princess
• Enchanted Princess
• Grand Princess
• Island Princess
• Majestic Princess
• Regal Princess
• Royal Princess
• Ruby Princess
• Sapphire Princess
• Sky Princess

**Satellite images are refreshed automatically every 5 minutes. Please do not refresh your browser. Image availability is subject to visibility, weather condition and satellite connectivity.**

Watch the world's largest cruise ship pass under a bridge with only feet to spare

• Royal Caribbean lowered the  Icon of the Seas ' funnels to sail under a bridge.
• The cruise line recently received the world's largest cruise ship ahead of its 2024 maiden voyage.
• Royal Caribbean has been building larger and larger cruise ships.

The world's largest cruise ship has a little-known trick that allows it to pass under shorter bridges: retractable funnels.

In late November, Royal Caribbean welcomed the Icon of the Seas to its 28-ship fleet in a ceremony at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland . Shortly after, the 1,198-foot-long, 250,800 gross-ton vessel began sailing to Cádiz , Spain, to receive some final touches ahead of its 2024 maiden voyage.

During its journey from Finland to Spain, the 20-deck ship had to face one glaring obstacle: Denmark's 11-mile Great Belt Bridge.

Related stories

Most small-ship operators don't have to think twice about sailing under such infrastructure. But as it's the world's largest cruise vessel , the Icon of the Seas required a collaborative engineering feat.

Ahead of the passageway, Royal Caribbean's team had to "lower and secure" the Icon of the Seas ' funnels, allowing it to clear the Great Belt Bridge on December 1 with only a few feet to spare. Take a look at the exciting moment:

While momentous, passing under this bridge was no new feat for the cruise operator. A Royal Caribbean spokesperson told Business Insider the Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas — both almost as tall as this new vessel — had already done so.

The cruise line's Icon-, Oasis-, and Quantum-class ships all have retractable funnels.

After its time in Spain, the Icon of the Seas is set to head to Miami for a series of back-to-back seven-night Caribbean cruises starting in late January 2024.

Since the ship's announcement in 2022, Royal Caribbean has been touting onboard amenities such as the 40-plus food and beverage venues, seven pools, and a water park with six water slides. But access to this floating resort is costly: The cheapest 2024 itinerary starts at $3,023 per person, which breaks down to more than $430 per day.

Royal Caribbean has recently been focusing on building larger vessels . Its previous largest cruise ship, Wonder of the Seas , launched in 2022, and the next equally large Icon-class ship, Star of the Seas , is set to launch in 2025.

Watch: The world's largest cruise ship landed in Miami — here's what it's like on board

• Main content

The Shipyard

For Those Who Love Ships

• Cruise Ships

How Cruise Ships Work (Part 3): The Bridge and the Engine Room

It’s like back in the days when we were little children. Grandpaw’s almost mystical tool shed was strictly off limits, but we were just dying to have a peek, weren’t we? Now that we are all grown up, Grandpaw’s gadgets are old news, but there is still a place or two on a cruise ship that remains like a pie in the sky for all of us obsessed by ships.

It’s the heart of the matter, it’s where it all happens, it’s the real deal. And if you are anything like me, you would gladly give away a day at the spa, a dessert buffet and even two, or the latest Marvel flick in the movie theater, just to spend a precious hour down in the noisy engine room of your favorite cruise ship. But life being proverbially unfair, modern cruise lines rarely allow their passengers to enter the bridge or the engine rooms of their ships, unless the visit is part of a specially organized guided tour. Some cruise ships have a window from which passengers can observe what’s going on in the bridge, but only if they promise not to disturb the officers. Which is really hard, when you badly want to touch everything…

So until the next time someone lets me out of sight and I make my umptieth attempt at trespassing to the engine room, let’s have a quick virtual tour of a cruise ship’s most forbidden and exciting parts.

The bridge is the brain of the ship. It is from there that the captain and his officers command and maneuver the ship, keep watch for other vessels or potential hazards, and navigate through the oceans. 

For twenty-four hours each day, the bridge is occupied by two Deck Officers and two Able Seamen, traditionally in four-hour shifts. The main job of the Officer of the Watch is to monitor the ship’s systems and surroundings, and to ensure that everything is running safely and smoothly. During extreme weather, docking, or other special cases, the Captain of the ship is also present on the bridge to guide the deck officers.

The term “bridge” comes from the time of the paddle steamers, where a bridge was built above the two paddle houses that used to hold the paddle wheels. This way the skipper could observe both wheels, while moving freely between the two and giving out commands. On today’s cruise ships, the bridge is usually on the upper deck in the forward part of the ship and extends over the sides of the superstructure, allowing deck officers a view to the sides of the ship as well as down to the waterline. The side extensions are called bridge wings and often have a glass flooring for better visibility.

The bridge houses a number of important nautical devices and information systems for command and navigation of the ship.

Satellite Navigation

The signals emitted by special navigation satellites are picked up by the cruise ship through a special antenna. On board, a computer converts these signals into the exact position of the ship at a given time. On large ships, the position indicator is constantly recorded in a so-called electronic nautical chart.

Satellites also enable automatic positioning systems on modern cruise ships. The positioning system is controlled from the bridge and it uses GPS to ensure that the ship stays at a defined location. When the captain defines a position where the ship needs to remain for a while without anchoring, the system automatically maintains the ship in position by using the bow and stern thrusters.

Modern cruise ships carry a gyro compass and a magnetic compass. The gyro compass consists of a fast-rotating disk, usually positioned in a gimbal. It is a non-magnetic compass oriented parallel to the axis of rotation of the earth and thus indicates the north-south direction.

The gyro compass is more accurate and reliable than the magnetic compass and is therefore the primary reference point for steering the ship. The magnetic compass on board is more prone to inaccuracies and it serves only as back-up.

The word radar stands for Radio Detection And Ranging. Radars are devices that allow us to locate distant objects from a given location, regardless of visibility and weather conditions. The radar emits electromagnetic waves to an object, then receives back the reflected echoes from that object, and interprets them based on distances and angles. These interpretations enable us to determine where an object lies, and in some cases even what its contours look like. In the shipping industry, radars are used for monitoring traffic in ports and coastal regions, for collision protection, for collecting weather data, and for navigation.

Speed logs are devices that measure the speed of the ship. There are two main types of speed logs: Doppler logs and electromagnetic logs.

The Doppler logs send out underwater sound signals. When the sound wave reaches the sea floor, it gets reflected and then returns to the receiver of the log. Due to the movement of the ship relative to the seabed, a Doppler effect occurs and is evaluated by the device. As long as the sound waves can reach the bottom of the sea and return to the receiver, the Doppler log measures the distance travelled over ground. However, if it is no longer possible to use the seabed as a reference, the device uses particles suspended in the water, such as plankton and minerals, to measure travel through the water.  

The electromagnetic logs create an electromagnetic field in the water around the ship, with the aid of a small alternating current and a transducer. A voltage proportional to the speed of the ship is generated in the water and is picked up by special sensors, which then transfer the information to an electronic device for interpretation. From the electronic device, the speed is then transmitted onto the displays in the bridge.

Echo Sounder

Cruise ships also have an echo sounder, a device used for the electro-acoustic measurement of water depths (sounding). The depth is determined by measuring the time between the emission of a sound impulse (water sound) and the arrival of the sound waves reflected from the bottom of the sea. The main purpose of echo sounders in cruise ships is safe navigation through waters.

Electronic Chart Display and Information System

The Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) is a console, built into the bridge of modern cruise ships, which incorporates the main engine safety system, fire control system, monitoring and control system, power management system, propulsion control system and navigation and maneuvering system. The ECDIS allows for navigation of the ship without the need of traditional paper charts. Navigation can be done manually, automatically, or through the Navigation and Command System (NACOS).

The NACOS is the main software used to coordinate all factors that need to be taken into consideration, in order to navigate and maneuver the ship safely. The console is composed of a number of displays showing information from the radars and compasses, data about the course of the ship and planned maneuvers, the current status of the pitch of the thrusters, the speed of the ship, and anything else concerning the steering of the ship. An intelligent autopilot tracks changes in the behavior of the ship through navigational sensors. If the ship drifts off its course due to strong winds, for example, the system automatically responds to correct the change by sending signals straight to the engine room. Once the signal is received by the engines, the rudder or thrusters of the ship are activated and move to the position given by the system. The displays on the bridge show both the angle of the rudder or thrusters, as well as the rate and the radius of the maneuver in progress.

The Engine Room

The engine room is the heart of a cruise ship. It is here that pistons hammer and crankshafts turn to propel the ship forward. It is the loud and oily place where the Chief Engineer and his team work around the clock to ensure that everything is running smoothly. It is the engine room of the ship that allows for the luxuries of air-conditioning, electricity, and plumbing on board cruise ships.

In future articles we will have the chance to explore the contents of the engine room in all the excruciating detail that they deserve, so to all the techies out there – I’ve got you covered. Just stay tuned.

Most larger ships have more than one engine room to house their machinery. The arrangement of the engine room can vary depending on the type, design, and size of the ship. For stability reasons, the engine machinery is typically placed as low as possible in the ship’s bowels and often takes up several decks in height. The machine rooms are split into watertight compartments, each housing different machinery.

Today’s cruise ships operate on diesel or diesel-electric engines. Their operating principle does not differ much from the old days of coal steamers, except for the medium used to generate power. While back in the day ocean liners used steam to move the engine’s pistons, modern cruise ships use diesel fuel. Today’s diesel engines are composed of the engine unit itself, gearboxes, shafts and generators. Some ships also have shaft generators which create electricity from the turning movement of the propeller shaft. The electricity is then used in the cabins, on deck and in the kitchens.

The latest generation of cruise ships are equipped with diesel electric engines. Instead of the more traditional engine-shaft-propeller arrangement, in this case the engines are connected to generators to create electricity. The generators power electric motors, and the electric motors move the propellers.

Aside from the engines and generators, the machinery that occupies the engine rooms includes pumps and heat exchangers for engine cooling, stabilizer fins and their motors, as well as the ship’s bow thruster system.

Since all of the equipment in the engine room is highly dependent on electricity, modern cruise ships also have back-up generators, usually located outside the main engine room, to protect them in case of fire. While these generators cannot produce enough power to keep the ship moving, they produce enough to keep some of the vital functions of the ship running, such as powering the emergency lights and the communication and navigation systems. In case the back-up generators fail, cruise ships are also equipped with a back-up battery that allows some of these functions to continue running for short periods of time. 

All the machinery in the engine rooms is monitored in the Engine Control Room (ECR). The ECR is a room full of screens, lights, alarms, and switches from where the current operational status of every piece of equipment can be checked.

The main switchboard of the ECR is used to distribute the generated electricity to where it is needed on board. The ERC is also where the engineering team comes together to discuss and plan the safe running of the engine rooms, to take decisions in emergency situations, to consult the technical manuals and drawings of the ship, to restart certain pieces of machinery if necessary, and to maintain communication with the bridge. Communication between the ECR and the bridge is crucial for the safe operation of the ship, especially during docking, moving through shallow waters, maneuvering, and changes in the course or speed of the ship.

This concludes our three-part overview of how a cruise ship functions. Now that we have covered the basics, in future articles we can explore all the specifics to our hearts’ content. As always, don’t hesitate to leave your constructive comments below and feel free to suggest topics you want to know more about – chances are I want to know more about them too!

Stay in touch and I’ll see you next time!

Share this:

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Privacy Overview

• AI Generator

cruise ship captain

Cruise ship deck, 1,396 cruise ship bridge stock videos, 4k footage, & video clips, browse 1,396 authentic  cruise ship bridge  stock videos, stock footage, and video clips available in a variety of formats and sizes to fit your needs, or explore cruise ship captain  or  cruise ship deck  stock videos to discover the perfect clip for your project..

Cruise Ship Life

All about cruise ships

What Is Cruise Ship Bridge(full explained)

You may pay attention the bridge of the deliver cited in passing, but it’s now not a place of the ship most passengers ever get to peer.

So, what is going on in the bridge, why is it referred to as that, who works there, and what do they do?

properly, examine on to find out the answers to all of your bridge-associated curiosities.

Bridge On A Cruise Ship

The cruise ship bridge is the command middle, located at the front of the ship on the upper decks. It’s the region of the deliver where all of the ship’s controls to navigate the deliver is located, it’s the equal of a huge cockpit region.

it’s miles from right here that the cruise captain and bridge group members take their positions and carry out their navigational responsibilities.

The bridge location is generally fabricated from bolstered glass, giving a clean wide view of the waters and conditions ahead.

accordingly, the bridge of a deliver is the location from which the number one functions of directing and controlling the velocity are actioned.

The term “bridge” originates from the times of paddle steamers when a raised walkway was placed up throughout both paddle homes, creating a bridge so that both aspects and paddle wheels of the ship might be viewed by means of the captain from the quarter-deck.

Bridge Crew Members

There several deck officers working on the bridging, including:

Harbor Pilots:

Come aboard from local ports with expert information of the nearby waters and situations and assist the bridge group in docking or departing.

interestingly, when a harbor pilot comes overseas is one of the few times a deck officer takes the helm and uses the ship’s wheel.

Bridge teams work in rotation, with teams working a hard and fast range of hours off whilst replaced by using another. typically, three teams are working the rotation.

In Captain Kates’s video, she stated that “three distinct teams labored every 4 hours on and 8 hours off”.

even though there may be only one captain, who can be contacted 24/7 if required, the captain’s quarters can be accessed at once from the bridge

Cruise captain:

Is the head of the navigational bridge groups and carries out or oversee’s all navigational factors of the deliver.

Assistant Officer of the Watch:

The Assistant Officer of the Watch (AOW) is a fundamental function on a ship’s bridge, specifically on vessels like cruise ships and service provider ships. The AOW serves as a assist role to the Officer of the Watch (OOW), who’s usually a licensed officer liable for the secure navigation and operation of the deliver. here’s a detailed explanation of the function of an Assistant Officer of the Watch

Quartermaster Lookout:

A Quartermaster Lookout is a selected position on a ship’s bridge, basically related to navigation and safety. The Quartermaster Lookout serves as an extra set of eyes and ears on the bridge, assisting the Officer of the Watch (OOW) and the navigation crew in maintaining a safe path and figuring out capacity hazards. right here’s an in depth clarification of the function and duties of a Quartermaster Lookout.

Bridge Policy

A few cruise ships, normally smaller ones or excursion cruise ships, have an open bridge policy that allows passengers to go as much as the bridge region outside of busy periods, such as while task docking maneuvers that require full attention.

Cruise traces with regarded open bridge guidelines include:

star Clippers Windstar

Bridge Equipment

In recent times the sizeable majority of the navigational system is electrical. there may be very little need for any paper maps or charts.

A cruise deliver bridge is made of multiple stations.

There are also more than one video display units showing varying navigational statistics. as well as a few other monitors showing the live fame of key areas of the ship.

Cruise Ship Bridge Layout

The cruise bridge has a central cockpit from which all the deliver’s maneuvers can be controlled.

when coming or leaving a pier, the command controls may be transferred to both one of the bridge wings.

Cruise Ship Bridge Wing

Cruise bridge wings is a pitcher surround extension on both facet of the bridge.

Whichever aspect the deliver is getting into port, port or starboard, the bridge wing gives an incredible view of the port and the length of the cruise deliver.

There is mostly a glass ground on the bridge wing so the group may even see what’s immediately below them.

It’s just like a wing mirror on a automobile, simply one you could stroll into.

every bridge wing has its own set of command controls which offers the bridge team an important and clear first-hand view of while they are docking or whilst a harbor pilot is coming onboard via the shell door or departing the deliver.

Cruise Ship Safety Measures:

Safety is paramount on the bridge. numerous safety measures are in place to ensure the nicely-being of passengers, team, and the deliver itself

• Redundant Systems: Critical navigation and communication systems have backups to ensure continuous operation.
• Collision Avoidance: Radar and AIS (Automatic Identification System) are used to detect and avoid collisions with other vessels.
• Weather Monitoring: The bridge is equipped with weather monitoring equipment to anticipate and navigate through adverse weather conditions.
• Emergency Procedures: The crew on the bridge is trained in emergency procedures, including responding to man-overboard situations, fires, and distress calls.
• Security: Access to the bridge is restricted to authorized personnel only to prevent unauthorized interference.
• Maneuverability: Modern cruise ships have advanced propulsion systems and thrusters that enhance maneuverability and make docking in ports safer.

What is the purpose of the navigation console on the ship’s bridge?

The navigation console serves as the central control unit for displaying real-time data related to the ship’s position, speed, heading, and depth. It is vital for safe navigation.

How do GPS and satellite navigation systems contribute to safe navigation?

GPS and satellite navigation systems provide accurate positioning data, helping the crew determine the ship’s location and course with precision.

What role do radar systems play on the ship’s bridge?

Radar systems are essential for detecting nearby vessels, land, and navigational hazards, aiding in collision avoidance and safe navigation.

What is the purpose of a depth sounder on the bridge?

A depth sounder measures the water depth beneath the ship, helping the crew assess the depth of the water and avoid grounding.

How are nautical charts used on the bridge?

Nautical charts are maps that display sea depths, navigation aids, and hazards. They are essential for route planning and ensuring safe navigation.

What is the significance of binoculars on the bridge?

Binoculars are optical devices used for visual observations, particularly in spotting distant vessels, navigational markers, or potential hazards.

How is a sextant utilized for navigation?

A sextant is used in celestial navigation to determine the ship’s position by measuring the angles between celestial bodies and the horizon.

What does the steering console control on the bridge?

The steering console controls the ship’s direction by adjusting the ship’s rudder, helping maintain the desired course.

What are the key functions of the engine control room in relation to the bridge?

The engine control room monitors and controls the ship’s engines, propulsion, and power systems based on navigation officer’s commands.

How does an autopilot system contribute to navigation?

An autopilot system is responsible for automated steering, assisting in maintaining the ship’s course without continuous manual input.

What is the purpose of a gyrocompass on the bridge?

A gyrocompass accurately indicates true north, providing reliable navigation information regardless of the ship’s movement.

How is speed measured on the ship, and why is it important?

Speed is measured using a speed log, which calculates the ship’s speed through the water. This data is crucial for navigation and fuel efficiency.

Why is an anemometer used on the bridge?

An anemometer measures wind speed and direction, helping the crew assess weather conditions and their impact on navigation.

What is the role of a barometer in navigation?

A barometer measures atmospheric pressure, which can provide valuable information about changing weather patterns at sea.

How are clocks and chronometers used on the bridge?

Clocks and chronometers are essential for accurate timekeeping, which is critical for navigation and log-keeping.

What is the function of the AIS (Automatic Identification System) on the bridge?

AIS identifies and tracks other vessels, aiding in collision avoidance and communication with nearby ships.

the cruise ship bridge is a complex and highly regulated area dedicated to ensuring the safe navigation and operation of the vessel. It combines advanced technology, skilled personnel, and strict safety protocols to provide passengers with a secure and enjoyable cruise experience while navigating the world’s oceans and waterways. Stay blessed

Similar Posts

Cruise Tragedy: Missing Passenger’s Family in Anguish Amid Discrepancies

A somber cloud looms over the Carnival Glory cruise ship as the search continues for 28-year-old Tyler Barnett, who went missing under mysterious circumstances during the voyage. The unfolding tragedy has left his family grappling with uncertainty and heartache. Discovering Disappearance The news of Barnett’s disappearance hit his family like a sudden storm, but the…

Best Cruises Line for Singles aged 20 and 20 above

Are you a young single adult looking for adventure at sea? Best Cruises Line for Singles Age Of 20s With so many options, choosing the right cruise for your age group can be overwhelming. We’ve done the research for you and created a list of the best cruises tailored specifically for young adult singles under…

What is a cruise ship tracker and how to check cruise ship location all details

Cruise Ship Tracker is a technology-driven service that allows individuals to monitor and check the real-time location and movements of cruise ships as they journey across the world’s oceans and seas. This invaluable tool has become increasingly popular among cruise enthusiasts, passengers, maritime aficionados, and even concerned family members. In this guide, we will explore…

Cruise Ship Adventures: Discover the Wonders of the High Seas

Introduction: Cruise ships are the epitome of modern travel, combining luxury, adventure, and relaxation on the high seas. Whether you’re a seasoned traveler or planning your first voyage, embarking on a cruise ship adventure is an experience like no other. In this article, we’ll explore the allure of cruise ships, the top destinations to visit,…

All About Carnival Cruise Line & Destinations And Departure All Cruise Ships

Carnival Cruise Lines was founded by Ted Allison in 1972 and began with one ship, Mardi Gras. Since then, the company has grown significantly and now operates a large fleet of cruise ships. Fleet: Carnival Cruise Line has a diverse fleet of ships that vary in size and amenities. Their ships are known for their…

Reasons To Love A-ROSA Family Cruises

A-ROSA River Cruises are the perfect option for families looking to explore interesting European cities during their vacation. The luxury A-ROSA riverboat is like a floating hotel, transporting you from one exciting destination to the next. While most other river cruises are aimed at adults, A-ROSA cruises are made specifically for families. We took our…

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Celebrity Blog

• Choosing a Cruise
• Planning / Booking A Cruise
• Preparing For Your Cruise
• Special Occasions
• What To Expect On A Cruise
• Australia, New Zealand & the Pacific
• Central America
• East Coast & Bermuda
• Mexican Riviera
• South America & Antarctica
• Destinations

Celebrity Edge Ship Tour

Last updated: August 6th, 2023

Videos Popular Articles

Southern caribbean cruises: idyllic beaches & stunning natural beauty, thrilling entertainment on celebrity cruises, what is the retreat on celebrity cruises, greek islands cruises aboard celebrity apex.

• Find a Cruise

Join Cruise Director Eddy Jenkins as he takes you on a Celebrity Edge video tour that showcases the most innovative ship in the Celebrity fleet.

The introduction of the infinite veranda is just one of the exciting features that resulted from Edge’s outward-facing design concept. With just the touch of a button, your Celebrity Edge stateroom transforms into a private veranda, bringing the outside world in.

Another exciting Edge feature is  The Retreat , an exclusive vacation experience that includes access to the private Retreat Sundeck, The Retreat Lounge, dining in Luminae, a dedicated team of attendants, concierges, and butlers and so much more.

The debut of two-story villas, two-bedroom, two-bath penthouse suites, and the new Edge Iconic suite, offering the same view as the captain’s helm, are two more innovations that set Edge apart.

With 29 dining venues onboard, Edge continues to engage guests with culinary creations helmed by our Michelin-starred chef. The Main Restaurant has been transformed into four dining concepts: Tuscan (Italian), Normandie (French), Cosmopolitan (New American), and Cyprus (Mediterranean), each with distinctive menus and decor.

Other exciting venues include Blu (exclusive for AquaClass guests), Raw on 5, Fine Cut Steakhouse, Le Petit Chef, Eden, and the Grand Plaza, anchored by Martini Bar, just to name a few.

Relax in a plush lounger by the 75-foot lap pool at the Resort Deck, the covered pool deck at the Solarium, or at the Rooftop Garden, designed as an urban playscape to bring out the inner child in everyone.

With an offering of 124 therapeutic and rejuvenating treatments and the Sea Thermal Suite as well, The Spa is a sure bet for mind and body relaxation. Floor-to-ceiling windows and stunning sea views make workouts at the Fitness Center more play than work.

For younger cruisers, Camp at Sea offers over 500 changing programs, depending on interests. The Basement for teens and young adults and the iLounge are spaces designed for fun.

The Casino boasts state-of-the-art video slot machines as well as table games. Onboard entertainment features an industry-leading, audience-forward stage that becomes a theater in the round.

Once you’ve seen this Celebrity Edge video tour, browse itineraries and book your cruise online, or call one of our vacation specialists.

Plan Your Luxury Cruise Vacation

Related itineraries.

Key West & Bahamas

• 3 nights ON CELEBRITY REFLECTION
• DEPARTING FROM FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA
• Starting from $417 USD

Western Caribbean & Perfect Day

• 5 nights ON CELEBRITY REFLECTION
• Starting from $581 USD
• 5 nights ON CELEBRITY BEYOND
• Starting from $801 USD

Eastern Caribbean

• 7 nights ON CELEBRITY APEX
• Starting from $919 USD

Key West & Mexico

• 5 nights ON CELEBRITY APEX
• Starting from $988 USD

Aruba, Bonaire & Curacao

• 8 nights ON CELEBRITY BEYOND
• Starting from $8591 USD

Related Articles

The Making Of Celebrity Edge

Why Celebrity Is Known For Having The Best Cruise Ships

Celebrity Millennium Ship Tour

Celebrity Eclipse Ship Tour

Celebrity Equinox Ship Tour

Celebrity Reflection Ship Tour

What To See & Do On Eastern Caribbean Cruises

Celebrity Apex Vs. Edge Dining Experience

Celebrity Crew Members Get Married On Board

New Zealand Cruises: Discover the Majestic North & South Islands

Celebrity Edge Suites & Staterooms Tour

Celebrity Silhouette Ship Tour

Sign Up for Special Offers

• First Name *
• Last Name *
• Email Address *
• Country * Country Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Costa Rica Côte d'Ivoire Croatia Cuba Curaçao Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic East Timor Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Polynesia Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Greenland Grenada Guam Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati North Korea South Korea Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestine, State of Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Sudan, South Suriname Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City Venezuela Vietnam Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, U.S. Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe

STAY IN THE KNOW

Thank you for subscribing.

See you on board soon.

• Ship Webcams
• Port Webcams
• World Map Of Port Webcam Locations

Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.

Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.

• Guest Register If you are reading this it means you have not yet registered. Please take a second to REGISTER (it's FREE). You will then be able to enjoy all the features of Cruising Earth .

Cruise Ship Webcams / Live Ship Cameras - Cruising Earth

Cruise ship webcams / live ship cameras.

View A Cruise Ship Webcam

If you know the ship webcam you want to view, enter the cruise ship name, camera location or cruise line name below.

Find A Webcam To View From One Of The 16 Ship Lines With Active Webcams Below

First select a ship line below. You will then be shown a list of active ship cameras for that ship line.

Note: The 16 ship lines below are the only ship lines that currently have active webcams onboard. Some ship lines chose to turn off their cameras at the beginning of the pandemic. Many of those ship cameras remain decommissioned at this time. If those cameras are returned to service we will once again provide links to them. The decommssioned camera line links below will provide direct contact information for that ship line if you choose to make a request that they recommission their onboard cameras.

It looks like you may be utilizing ad blocking software or another ad filtering technology while visiting Cruising Earth. Certain areas of this site may not work properly because of this, particularly live updates of ship trackers and webcams.

We work hard to strike a balance between content and ads and as a free site we greatly appreciate your support in permitting ads to render. Ads help us cover our server and maintenance costs, which helps us continue to keep this site free to use. You also don't want to miss out on any specials or discounts posted from the Cruise & Travel Industry! For the best site experience please disable your ad blockers for cruisingearth.com, then click the button below. Thank you.

• International

Israel-Hamas war

Trump hush money trial

March 26, 2024 - Baltimore Key Bridge collapses after ship collision

By Helen Regan , Kathleen Magramo , Antoinette Radford, Alisha Ebrahimji , Maureen Chowdhury , Rachel Ramirez , Elise Hammond , Aditi Sangal , Tori B. Powell , Piper Hudspeth Blackburn and Kathleen Magramo , CNN

Ship lights flickered and veered off course shortly before Baltimore bridge hit, CNN analysis shows   

From CNN’s Allegra Goodwin in London

The Singaporean-flagged cargo ship that struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore Tuesday altered course and veered toward a pillar shortly before impact, a CNN analysis of MarineTraffic ship-tracking data confirms.  

It’s unclear what caused the ship to crash into the bridge or why its lights were flickering. CNN has reached out to the National Transportation Safety Board to inquire about a possible power failure. 

The container ship DALI, which was en route to Colombo, Sri Lanka, begins to change course toward the bridge’s pillar at 1:26 a.m. local time, striking the bridge at 1:28 a.m. ET, according to MarineTraffic data and video from the scene. Video from 1:25 a.m. ET shows a plume of dark smoke billowing from the ship. DALI's lights flicker at least twice before the incident.  

In video, as it navigates down the Patapsco River, the ship’s lights can be seen going out at 1:24 a.m. ET, before turning back on, and then flickering off and on again between 1:26 a.m. ET and 1.27 a.m. ET, just before it hits the bridge.  

Maryland transportation secretary says contractors were working on bridge at time of collapse

From CNN's Antoinette Radford

Maryland State Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld told reporters there were workers on the Francis Scott Key Bridge at the time of its collapse.

"We know there were individuals on the bridge at the time of the collapse, working on the bridge, contractors for us," he said at a news conference Tuesday morning.

Wiedefeld said the workers were "basically doing some concrete deck repair," but said they did not know how many vehicles were involved.

He added that the transport authority has set up a facility for family members of those who were believed to be on the bridge at the time of its collapse.

Baltimore fire chief: Sonar has detected the presence of vehicles submerged in the water

Baltimore Fire Chief James Wallace says authorities have detected vehicles submerged in the water.

“Our sonar has detected the presence of vehicles submerged in the water,” said Wallace at a news conference on the collapse of Francis Scott Key Bridge. “I don't have a count of that yet.”

He said emergency services are using sonar, drones and infrared technology as a part of their search for people and vehicles who may have fallen from the Key Bridge into the Patapsco River.

No indication of "terrorism" or intent in Baltimore bridge collapse, police chief says

From CNN’s Andy Rose

Baltimore Police said there was no evidence that the ship collision that caused the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge was intentional.

“There is absolutely no indication that there's any terrorism, that this was done on purpose,” Chief Richard Worley said at a news conference.

The FBI  said  that it was joining the investigation into the cause of the collision.

Rescue crews have determined there are vehicles in the Patapsco River following the bridge collapse.

“Our sonar has detected the presence of vehicles submerged in the water,” said Fire Chief James Wallace. “I don't have a count of that yet.”

Wallace said they are waiting to make sure that the ship is secure and stable before investigators board it.

“Never would you think that you would see, physically see, the Key Bridge tumble down like that,” Mayor Brandon M. Scott said.

Cruises, cars and commodities: What to know about the Port of Baltimore

From CNN's Mark Thompson and Hanna Ziady

The collapse of the   Francis Scott Key Bridge over the Patapsco River outside the Port of Baltimore threatens to disrupt shipping operations at a major US trade hub for autos, container traffic and commodities. Baltimore also has a cruise terminal.

Closer to the Midwest than any other port on the East Coast, Baltimore ranks first in the United States for autos and light trucks, handling a record 850,000 vehicles last year. It was also the leading port for farming and construction machinery, as well as imported sugar and gypsum. It was second in the country for exporting coal.

Overall, Baltimore ranks as the 9th biggest US port for international cargo, handling a record 52.3 million tons, valued at $80.8 billion in 2023.

“The immediate focus is the rescue operation, but there will clearly be a highly-complex recovery phase and investigation to follow and we don't know what impact this will have on operations at the Port of Baltimore," said Emily Stausbøll, market analyst at Norway-based shipping analytics company Xeneta.

“While Baltimore is not one of the largest US East Coast ports, it still imports and exports more than one million containers each year so there is the potential for this to cause significant disruption to supply chains," she added.

Baltimore's cruise terminal serves ships operated by Royal Caribbean, Carnival and Norwegian. Cruises carrying more than 444,000 passengers departed from the port last year.

According to the Maryland state government, the port supports 15,330 direct jobs and 139,180 jobs in related services.

Rescue crews looking for at least seven people in Baltimore bridge collapse

Rescue operations are underway near the wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, as crews look for people who fell into the Patapsco River.

“We are still very much in an active search and rescue posture at this point, and we will continue to be for some time,” Wallace added.

Baltimore Fire says two people have been rescued from the river – one who was uninjured, and another in hospitalized “very serious condition.”

“This is an unthinkable tragedy,” Mayor Brandon Scott said. “We have to first and foremost pray for all of those impacted.”

Ship that collided with Baltimore bridge was chartered by Danish shipping company Maersk 

From CNN's Alex Stambaugh in Hong Kong

The container ship that collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on Tuesday was chartered by Maersk and carrying their customers' cargo, the Danish shipping company told CNN.

"We are horrified by what has happened in Baltimore, and our thoughts are with all of those affected," The company said in its statement.

The company, which has a full name of A.P. Moller - Maersk, said no company crew and personnel were onboard the vessel. It said the ship, DALI, is operated by charter vessel company Synergy Group. 

"We are closely following the investigations conducted by authorities and Synergy, and we will do our utmost to keep our customers informed," the statement said. 

CNN is attempting to contact the owner and managers of the ship, including Synergy.

FBI Baltimore on the scene at the Key Bridge

FBI Baltimore personnel are on the scene at the Francis Scott Key Bridge, they have said in a post on X.

The agency said it was working "side by side with our local, state and federal partners."

Baltimore fire emergency chief says 2 people saved from water after Key Bridge collapse

The Baltimore Fire Department Chief James Wallace says authorities rescued two people from the water this morning, one without injury and the other who has been transferred to hospital in a serious condition.

Authorities are continuing their search for upwards of seven people, Wallace says. But, he says that number could change as it is a "very large incident." Earlier on Tuesday, an official said as many as 20 people could be in the water.

Wallace added that the crew remains on board the ship, and are communicating with the US Coast Guard. He added that emergency services are looking into reports that there were workers on the bridge at the time of the incident.

Speaking at the press conference, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott also described the incident as an “unthinkable tragedy,” and offered his prayers for all those affected, as well as his thanks to first responders.

Please enable JavaScript for a better experience.

How many ships hit bridges, lose power every year? Data shows jarring numbers on the rise.

An alarm wails onboard the container ship as it approaches the Francis Scott Key Bridge during what had until that moment seemed like a routine departure from the Port of Baltimore.

For the past half hour, the crew navigated the hulking vessel through relatively calm waters and lined it up to pass perfectly under the main truss of the steel bridge, softly lit in the early morning darkness.

Now, just a half mile from the span, the vessel has gone dark – no power, no steering, no propulsion. Inside the ship’s towering command center, the crew tries to re-engage the system but no luck. The nearly 100,000-ton ship is adrift.

“Captain, we are on a collision course with the bridge support,” announces the officer of the watch, who recommends dropping its anchor. No change. A desperate call goes out to the shore to stop traffic from crossing the bridge.

The captain realizes the hard truth: The Dali is “at the point of extremis,” he says – the point of no return.

The crew watches helplessly as the bridge looms larger and larger until, just four minutes after the alarm sounded, their vessel slams into one of its main support columns.

“At this point there is absolutely, certainly nothing that we could do on our own,” said Chief Mate Kevin Calnan from inside California State University Maritime Academy’s 360-degree mission simulator during an eerily vivid replication of the Baltimore bridge disaster.

The state-of-the-art simulator – one of just three of its kind nationwide – showed how a total loss of power on a container ship the size and weight of the Dali could turn it into an uncontrollable weapon of mass destruction – a transformation counted in precisely calculated currents and breezes, velocity and minutes, not hours.

Moments after the Dali struck it, the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed into Patapsco River , killing at least six construction workers, likely causing billions of dollars in damage and forever altering the Baltimore skyline.

Although such disasters are rare, the conditions that could cause them are frighteningly common, according to a USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Coast Guard maritime incident data, which includes any reportable maritime event involving a death or injury, collision, grounding, environmental harm, or the loss of power and propulsion.

Map: Where ships have struck bridges, lost power

This map shows issues categorized as "major" or "significant" marine casualties and “serious marine incidents” in U.S. Coast Guard incident investigation reports that mention a freight ship, freight barge, tank ship, tank barge or ocean cruise vessel striking a bridge. It also includes cases where ships lost power, propulsion or steering within two kilometers of a highway bridge over navigable waters. Don't see a map? Click here.

At least 6,000 times in the past 22 years – an average of more than five times a week – crews on board massive cargo ships, oil tankers, container barges and even cruise vessels have reported what befell the Dali: a loss of power, loss of propulsion, loss of steering, or some combination of the three, a USA TODAY data analysis reveals.

At least 900 of them occurred near bridges identified by the U.S. Department of Transportation as spanning navigable waters. The vast majority were classified as routine but a dozen were labeled major or significant.

Some damaged both the ships and the structures they hit. Others left crew members with broken bones or other injuries. But most, including cases remarkably similar to what happened last month in Baltimore, have never been made public, buried deep in a federal database.

Often the dividing line between major and routine came down to a last-minute effort by the crew or rescue teams.

The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge had an earlier close call, in 2018

On March 16, 2018, the bulk carrier Strategic Alliance lost power and propulsion on the Delaware River just north of the Commodore Barry Bridge, a 2.6-mile span connecting Philadelphia to New Jersey and carrying more than 41,000 vehicles a day.

The Singapore-flagged vessel, about half the size of the Dali, dropped anchor in the channel without incident early that Friday morning and was able to regain propulsion and generator power after clearing its clogged cooling water strainers of debris. Nearly two years later, the Dali-sized container ship Maersk Chicago lost power in New York’s Lower Bay Channel as it approached the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge late on a Wednesday night.

Roughly 500 feet from the country’s longest suspension span – crossed by nearly a quarter-million vehicles a day – the ship was adrift with no steering, no propulsion and no engine. Fortunately, a pair of tugboats were able to rescue the U.S.-flagged vessel and tow it to safety, where it was determined a broken air compressor valve was to blame.

Just last week, another container ship lost propulsion near the same bridge. The Liberia-flagged vessel, Qingdao, experienced the failure around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday as it navigated through the Kill Van Kull shipping lane between Staten Island and Bayonne, New Jersey.

It took three tugboats to bring the vessel under control.

Unlike most incidents in the Coast Guard database, the Qingdao made the news as images of the gigantic ship floating near the bridge spooked jittery Americans still reeling from the recent Baltimore disaster.

That the two events happened in close succession was not so much a coincidence, but rather a fairly common occurrence that’s bound to happen when tens of thousands of ships from all over the world travel in and out of U.S. waters every year, several maritime experts told USA TODAY.

Statistically, the experts said, such failures are more likely to happen in ports and harbors, as well as in close proximity to bridges, because that’s when the ships are under the most stress.

“That’s when you’re giving all your engine orders,” said Calnan, the assistant professor of marine transportation who ran the simulation at Cal Maritime for USA TODAY. Calnan has operated large ships himself and has experienced what is sometimes known as a dark ship, though only while out at sea.

“It’s just like in the car; if you’re going 65 on the highway, there’s not a lot happening,” he said, “But when you’re doing a lot of stop and go and changing engine orders, it’s putting stress on the engine, and if something is mechanically wrong with the engine itself, there’s a higher chance it will happen when you’re using it more.”

Mechanical failure, human error and a host of other conditions can conspire to shut down a vessel’s engine, seize up its propulsion system or thwart its crew’s ability to steer.

Sometimes a simple miscalculation can cause a crew to lose command of a ship – or cause an otherwise seaworthy ship to hit a bridge.

USA TODAY’s data analysis revealed at least 2,600 bridge strikes occurring in U.S. waters since 2002, the earliest year for which such data is available. Three of these allisions were fatal, claiming 16 lives in all. The majority, however, were minor – a ship’s antenna or mast hitting a bridge, or a barge clipping a bridge’s protective fender.

But maritime problems – which international governing agencies call “casualty incidents” – have been steadily rising over the past decade, according to a report by Lloyd’s List Intelligence, a global maritime data and analytics company.

That’s especially true for those caused by machinery damage or failure.

The Lloyd’s report cites 700 such reported events in the third quarter of 2022 – the highest in 14 years – and attributed the increase to several factors. Among them: fewer ship inspections and internal audits, an unavailability of dry docks and technicians to perform maintenance and repairs, as well as supply chain delays in getting spare parts.

Lloyd’s was unable to provide updated data, but a representative told USA TODAY incidents have continued to rise.

The crew could do little to avert catastrophe

The frequency of such malfunctions and the risks to life and property are at the heart of Cal Maritime’s simulation exercises, which train students how to react to the worst disasters in a controlled environment.

In the case of the Dali simulation, the unfortunate lesson was that there was little they could do to avoid a catastrophe once the power was down except alert others to their plight.

“Making that emergency call and alerting all of the other traffic in the area that, ‘Hey, we’re this ship and we can’t maneuver anymore, we’re not under command’ – that call itself is what we see in this accident in Baltimore,” Calnan said. “That singular call… saved countless lives.”

While most power outages cause minimal harm, the one that darkened the Dali occurred at a most unfortunate place and time: about 0.6 nautical miles from the Francis Scott Key Bridge while the laden ship was moving at a speed of roughly 8 knots and the wind was blowing from the northeast, according to real-time data fed into the simulator.

When the blackout occurred, the ship’s rudder was turned 3 degrees to the starboard side and remained stuck there as the vessel drifted off course. Its towering stack of containers acted as a sail for the wind, which aimed it directly at the bridge’s support column.

Even if the engine had been working, Calnan said, it would have taken 0.8 nautical miles to bring that particular vessel under those particular conditions to a full stop – farther than the distance to the bridge it was about to hit. Simply put, time had run out.

“During any situation on board any type of vessel, we have a concept which we call the point of extremis, which essentially means there’s a point in every situation where no matter what you do, it's going to lead to some form of undesirable outcome,” he said. “Basically, it’s the point of no return.”

National Transportation Safety Board and U.S. Coast Guard investigators are still working to determine the cause of the blackout on the Dali. They have retrieved documents and interviewed the crew, as well as others who witnessed or were involved in the crash. But it could be months before they release their findings.

In the meantime, maritime experts have offered a number of possible causes based on their own experience with engine failure.

“There are 101 potential reasons for a blackout,” said Capt. Ashok Pandey, a master mariner and associate professor of international maritime business at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.

They include inexperienced crew members accidentally switching off a valve that shuts down the fuel supply, water forming inside poorly maintained fuel tanks and knocking out the engine, and countless situations involving dirty fuel gumming up the ship’s filters, pumps and injectors.

Deep-sea vessels like the Dali burn what’s known as heavy fuel oil – sometimes called bunker fuel – a cheap, tar-like residue that the crew processes onboard the ship by heating, filtering and purifying it before feeding it into the combustion system.

Sometimes the heavy fuel itself is particularly bad and can clog the ship’s strainers. Other times the crew fails to properly maintain its onboard processing system and dirty fuel gets into the engine. Either way, it can lead to disaster.

“We have all been through bad fuel situations – you get bad fuel and it clogs the strainers, and every engineer has had to go down and clean the strainers,” said Keith Deirup, a licensed chief engineer with 20 years of experience in the U.S. merchant marine industry. “If you lose an engine, it's a total loss of propulsion, and it takes a while to get it back online.”

Accidents, dirty fuel and fish cause blackouts 

Coast Guard incident reports blame a host of culprits for the power outages reported by hundreds of ships over the years. They include unpredictable events like lightning strikes, fires on board or even fish clogging water inlets meant to help cool the engines.

Several incident reports attribute power losses to dirty – or degraded – fuel, as was the case in June 2017, when the Hong Kong-flagged Mallika Naree went dark on the Elizabeth River outside Norfolk, Virginia. The bulk carrier dragged a buoy nearly 400 yards before running aground. The investigation revealed about 16 gallons of water had leaked into the fuel oil supply tank.

Delayed maintenance also shows up as a common cause of power outages. “Poor maintenance” on a fuel oil valve led to a power outage that ran the 681-foot-long Alexander Dimitrov aground east of New Orleans in January 2002. The report states “the valves should have been checked as part of routine maintenance.”

“Lack of inspection, testing replacement/maintenance of the time delay relays” was to blame in February 2019, when the captain of the Portuguese container ship EMS Trader ordered an emergency lowering of the anchor. The ship had lost power, steering and propulsion not far from the Commodore Barry Bridge southwest of Philadelphia.

Many of the incident reports blame human error and inattention.

The 1,096-foot-long container ship Ever Lotus lost power while mooring at the Port of Los Angeles in November 2016. Even though the vessel’s crew was trained to slowly increase the pitch of the bow thruster so as to not overload the generators, “the pilot adjusted the pitch from 0% to 100% instantly,” according to the incident report.

Three years earlier, the 604-foot-long Manistee went dark as it was backing out of Ashtabula Harbor east of Cleveland. The engineer on watch forgot to throw a switch that would prevent the generators from overheating, leading to the outage.

Such incidents reinforce the need for extra precaution when ships navigate near critical infrastructure, said Pandey of Massachusetts Maritime, who advocated for mandatory tug escorts regardless of the ship, its cargo or the port. 

Protecting bridges: Baltimore's Key Bridge, opened in 1977, had few ship defenses. Are modern bridges better?

“Increasingly, the use of tugs is considered too old-fashioned, maybe too expensive, simply because we have the technology,” he said. “It’s something we don’t talk enough about.”

Other experts said nothing can prevent every disaster, and the Dali might be a case in point.

“Naval engineers will look at the root causes and ask what we can do to prevent it from happening again,” said a senior government official and former Coast Guard officer who spoke to USA TODAY on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

"And maybe there isn’t anything we can do,” he said. ”Maybe fate just caught up with it.”

More than half of major bridge collapses are in the U.S. 

Despite the frequency of power failures and bridge strikes reported to the Coast Guard, the maritime shipping industry has had relatively few major accidents like the one that toppled the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

Until this March, the last incident identified by USA TODAY in which a ship knocked down a U.S. bridge was on Jan. 26, 2012, when the Delta Mariner cargo vessel carrying rocket components down the Tennessee River from Alabama to Florida slammed into the Eggner’s Ferry Bridge near Aurora, Kentucky.

The ship, going about 10 knots, tore away a 322-foot span of the bridge as it attempted to pass under a section with insufficient clearance.

Fortunately, traffic was light and vehicles stopped before reaching the missing portion of the bridge, according to an National Transportation Safety Board report of the crash. There were no deaths or injuries, but the bridge sustained major damage. It was repaired and reopened later that year but permanently closed in 2016 after a new bridge was built in its place.

Three years earlier, in March 2009, a tugboat pushing eight barges on the Mississippi River knocked out the Popps Ferry Bridge in Biloxi, Mississippi, when it crashed into one of its pilings and sent a section of the span tumbling into the water. Again, nobody died.

Other ship-on-bridge allisions killed people but did not topple the span. This includes the July 2015 death of a construction worker on the Eads Bridge in St. Louis when a tugboat pushing two loaded barges struck his scaffolding as it was passing under the span. And the August 2014 death of a tugboat master when his crane barge hit the Florida Avenue lift bridge in New Orleans and the crane’s mast fell onto the wheelhouse, crushing him.

The last U.S. ship-on-bridge allision to cause both fatalities and bring down the bridge, according to USA TODAY’s review of the data, happened more than two decades ago.

On May 26, 2002, the towboat Robert Y. Love was pushing two empty asphalt tank barges on the Arkansas River when it veered off course and struck a pier supporting the Interstate 40 highway bridge near Webbers Falls, Oklahoma.

The impact sent a 503-foot section of the bridge tumbling into the river. Unlike the Kentucky bridge collapse, highway traffic on the I-40 span had continued to “drive into the void,” according to the NTSB report.

Fourteen people died and five were injured in the accident, which the report said caused an estimated $30.1 million in damage to the bridge and $276,000 to the barges.

Worldwide, between 1960 and 2015 ships or barges caused 35 major bridge collapses that killed 342 people, according to a 2018 report from the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure.More than half occurred in the United States.

Yet the United States has some of the strictest maritime standards in the world, according to the experts. Its rules and regulations – which include a host of technical, personnel and environmental practices – go far beyond those set by the International Maritime Organization, which governs all global shipping.

They ensure that U.S ships are built and maintained to the highest standards and that its crews follow industry best practices. These rules also apply, to a certain extent, to foreign-flagged ships in U.S. waters, even though those ships might operate under what some experts described as subpar conditions.

“Many of the world’s shipping companies are based out of countries like Liberia, Marshall Islands and Panama” Deirup said. “They do that to save on costs and liability, so they get to run these ships really cheaply. They hire mariners from whatever country they can offer the cheapest wages and will run a really shoddy operation without much oversight.”

Many of the ships, he said, “are just ramshackle.”

The U.S. Coast Guard has jurisdiction in U.S. waters and can detain a ship for safety issues, Deirup said, “but they’re spread really thin.”

Detainments typically happen when a Coast Guard inspection finds significant issues with a ship, but it takes years to train the marine inspectors and there aren’t nearly enough of them in the field, said the former Coast Guard officer who was not authorized to speak to the media.

Not all ships are inspected, either, he said. The Coast Guard uses an algorithm based on the vessel’s history and previous ports of call and current port to determine which ships to check.

Exacerbating the situation are the extremely tight schedules ships’ crews face to unload outgoing cargo and pickup inbound cargo before racing to the next port. That’s especially true of container ships, experts said, whose slots at ports are scheduled weeks in advance and must make it on time or miss the window.

“For this ship, the Dali, in Baltimore, they were probably under that pressure,” Deirup said. “That’s why if they had problems with their generators – just theorizing – but they might have been under a lot of pressure to just make it work and get off that dock.”

That type of pressure is difficult to mimic in a simulator, which is perhaps why the crew on the bridge of Cal Maritime’s digital ship operated with calm efficiency each time they ran through the scenario. Blackout, steering out, ship dead in the water, bridge looming, crash. Again and again and again.

Only one run involving tug boats averted the disaster, and even then only when two tugs at full power were tethered to the ship all the way under the bridge. That lineup is not a current day reality except in rare situations, such as tankers transporting oil or other toxins in certain ports.

Solutions: Tugboats left before ship reached Baltimore bridge. They might have saved it.

“No matter what nationality the crew was or what their training was like, I think in the end, it’s an unlucky situation at an unlucky point,” said Conor Finnerty, a Cal Maritime senior who assumed the role of officer of the watch during the simulation.

One of the most critical positions on the ship, the officer of the watch ensures the vessel navigates safely regardless of obstacles or conditions. During the simulation, Finnerty gave orders to the crew to continue testing the equipment, then to drop the anchor and, finally, to sound the danger signal warning anyone on the water that collision was imminent.

“There’s really not much that could have been done about it,” Finnerty said of the unfolding disaster, “except just watch it.”

USA TODAY reporter Dinah Voyles Pulver contributed to this report.

Missing workers in Key Bridge collapse presumed dead, search called off: Live updates

Editor's Note: This page is a summary of news on the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse for Tuesday, March 26. For the latest news on the collapse, view our live updates file for Wednesday, March 27 .

BALTIMORE − The U.S. Coast Guard said Tuesday evening it was calling off the search-and-rescue mission for the six construction workers that went missing when a cargo ship struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore early in the morning, sending it collapsing into the frigid Patapsco River and shutting down a critical artery for East Coast shipping .

Officials said water temperatures around 46 to 48 degrees, poor visibility and changing currents played a role in the decision after a dogged attempt to find the workers.

Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning.

“Based on the length of time that we’ve gone on this search, the extensive search efforts that we’ve put into it, the water temperature, at this point we do not believe that we’re going to find any of these individuals still alive,'' Coast Guard Rear Admiral Shannon N. Gilreath said in a news conference. "So this evening at about 7:30 we are going to suspend the active search-and-rescue efforts.’’

The focus of the operation would switch to recovery and restart at 6 a.m. Wednesday, officials said.

Around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday a Singapore-flagged vessel named Dali struck the Key Bridge as it was leaving the Port of Baltimore, causing the span to collapse in seconds. Officials said the crew warned of a power issue and sent out a "mayday" before the collision. Footage of the incident shows the cargo ship smash into one of the columns before the bridge snapped, hit the water and partially fell on the ship, where a burst of flames and smoke could be seen rising into the night sky.

Several vehicles were on the bridge at the time of impact and plunged into the river, which was cold enough to cause hypothermia. There were multiple contractors on the bridge who were repairing potholes, Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld said. So far two people have been rescued. One was unharmed and the other remains in "very serious condition," he said.

Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said at an afternoon news conference the agency will lead the investigation, but she would not provide information on fatalities or injuries from the incident, leaving that to local authorities.

A senior U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly told USA TODAY the ship apparently lost power a few minutes before striking the bridge. A federal report has confirmed that version of events , saying the crew lost its ability to control the vessel.

Developments:

∎  Brawner Builders, the employer of the six missing workers, told media outlets including the Baltimore Sun that they're presumed dead.

∎ The University of Maryland Medical Center's trauma center treated one patient from the collapse who has been discharged, Michael Schwartzberg, the medical center's spokesperson, said in an email. Schwartzberg declined to say more about the person's injuries, citing patient privacy concerns.

∎ Dr. David Efron, the center’s chief of trauma, said falling from the bridge − with clearance of more 185 feet − into 48-degree water would present life-threatening risks. Being submerged for more than an hour in water at that temperature is “almost invariably going to not be survivable.”

∎  The National Transportation Safety Board is scheduled to hold a news conference about its investigation into the incident Tuesday afternoon.

∎ Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott issued a state of emergency to better mobilize resources and work quickly to "address this crisis," he said in a post on X . The governor of Maryland issued a state of emergency earlier Tuesday.

Crew lost control as propulsion deserted ship, report says

The Dali lost propulsion leaving port and its crew lost control of the ship, prompting the crew to alert Maryland officials of a possible collision, an unclassified Department of Homeland Security report revealed Tuesday.

An official who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed to USA TODAY that the DHS cybersecurity agency is working with federal, state and local officials "to understand the potential impacts of this morning’s collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge."

This was not the Dali's first harsh encounter with a pier, and that time its leadership was determined to be at fault. It's too early to know what caused Tuesday's accident.

The cargo ship that  struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge  collided with a shipping dock in Belgium in 2016. That incident occurred as the Dali was leaving port in Antwerp and hit a loading pier made of stone, causing damage to the ship’s stern, according to the VesselFinder.com website, which tracks ships across the world. An investigation determined a mistake made by the ship’s master and pilot was to blame.

No one was injured in that crash, although the ship required repair and a full inspection before being returned to service. The pier – or berth – was also seriously damaged and had to be closed.

− Josh Meyer, Emily Le Coz and Claire Thornton

Two Guatemalan workers among six missing

Two Guatemalan nationals are among the six workers who were on the bridge when it was struck early Tuesday, the Guatemalan Foreign Ministry said. Their ages are 26 and 35, respectively, and their families have been notified, the ministry said in a statement, which also noted the other missing workers are from Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador. 

"We will continue requesting information from the authorities and information about search and rescue efforts to find the missing Guatemalans," the statement said.

− Eduardo Cuevas

What did the most recent inspection report say about the bridge?

Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge was listed in overall fair condition in 2021, the most recent inspection report in the Federal Highway Administration’s  National Bridge Inventory  at the time of its  collapse early Tuesday morning . 

However, the database noted that, “Bank protection is in need of minor repairs. River control devices and embankment protection have a little minor damage. Banks and/or channel have minor amounts of drift.” 

Other structural elements showed  “some minor deterioration”  but were otherwise listed in satisfactory condition.

− Cecilia Garzella and Yoonserk Pyun

'We're with you': Biden says federal government will rebuild bridge

President Joe Biden said he intends for the federal government to cover the entire cost to rebuild the Key Bridge, and he committed not to leave “until this job gets done.”

“We're with you. We're going to stay with you as long as it takes,” Biden said Tuesday afternoon from the White House Roosevelt Room.

Biden said he spoke with Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and other local and state officials about the bridge’s collapse, and said he would visit the site in the future. “I told them we're going to send all the federal resources they need as we respond to this emergency − I mean all the federal resources. And we're going to rebuild that port together.”

Biden said eight people remain unaccounted for, but the figure might change. Two people were rescued. "Everything so far indicates that his was a terrible accident,” Biden said, adding there’s no reason to believe it was intentional.

“Our prayers are with everyone involved in this terrible accident and all the families, especially those waiting for news of their loved ones right now,” Biden said. “I know every minute in that circumstance feels like a lifetime.”

Biden said the ongoing rescue operation remains the top priority but relayed that he told Moore he has directed his team to “move heaven and earth to reopen the port and rebuild the bridge as soon as humanly possible."

− Joey Garrison

Crewman reports all on board Dali are safe

This past weekend, Andrew Middleton took the ship's captain and a crewman shopping at a nearby Walmart. Since 9/11, international crews have to be escorted by a vetted person through most port areas, and Middleton said it's fairly common for crews like the Dali's to request assistance from the Apostleship of the Sea Baltimore Stella Maris International Seafarers' Center, where he is the director. The group is part of the Catholic Church's Archdiocese of Baltimore.

"They were by all appearances in good spirits," Middleton said, and they chatted in his van about the ship's planned 28-day voyage around the Horn of Africa to Sri Lanka. Middleton said crews usually buy personal toiletries and snacks before long trips.

Middleton woke up Tuesday morning to the shocking news the ship hit the bridge, and he immediately messaged one of the crewmen via WhatsApp. "My question to him was, 'Is everyone OK?' And the answer was, 'Yes sir, everyone is safe,'" Middleton told USA TODAY.

The crew is still aboard the ship while authorities assess the situation. Middleton said he's prepared to send them any supplies they need if they're stuck aboard for an extended period. And he said he's making plans to help them once they're freed and returned to shore. He said he expects the Dali will be towed back into the harbor and docked for a damage assessment. Middleton added that he worries both about the missing workers from the bridge and also the port workers who may be temporarily unemployed if the harbor gets shut down.

"Obviously, this incident has a large impact on the port community,'' he said. "If this extends a long period of time, we're going to have longshoreman and stevedores who are not working, tugboat crews who are not working. It has the potential, if it becomes a drawn-out event, to affect many lives."

− Trevor Hughes

Commuter finds sight of damaged bridge 'devastating to watch'

Charlotte Robinson's commute from her home in Delaware to her accounting job in Washington, D.C., took a detour Tuesday morning, when driving over the Francis Scott Key Bridge wasn't an option. In the past she figured that route was safe, but the bridge's collapse sparked difficult discussions with her colleagues who commute.

"It was devastating to watch,'' Robinson said of the crumpled bridge after it was hit by a 985-foot-long cargo ship. "And you have to ask yourself, if that was me, what would my plan be? How would I try to survive this, if I was trapped, if my car went into the water?”

Robinson said she often sees ships passing under the bridge during her morning commute; in the evenings, when she’s on her way home, there are usually fewer boats. Tuesday, she said, “You could see all these boats, just lined up because they had no place to go.”

Another common sight during her commute was construction workers both on the bridge and below it, sometimes hanging over the water in harnesses. Her thoughts turned to those workers as she watched the news Tuesday in her office. "I almost couldn't breathe watching the news," she said.

− Phaedra Trethan

'It's devastating to the city'

Greg Trenchard, 43, awoke Tuesday to a flurry of text messages and missed calls from his out of state relatives checking in on him after hearing about the Key Bridge collapse.

“I’ve driven over it 100 times and now to see that it’s gone is pretty crazy,” he said Tuesday.

Trenchard, an auditor, said he then tried to make his way to Fort Armistead Park, where he’d come many times before to take photos of the bridge at sunrise and sunset. But the normally quick drive took nearly 40 minutes due to the traffic detours, and a police roadblock next to Royal Farms, a convenience store, about a mile and half from the park stopped him from getting any closer to the scene.

“It’s a blow,” he said of the collapse. “It’s devastating to the city, it’s devastating to port traffic and everything they’re trying to do to revitalize the shipping industry in Maryland and keep that going.”

– N'dea Yancey-Bragg

Air, land and water search underway

Multiple local, state and federal agencies are coordinating the massive search, which spans a vast section of the river – both above and below the surface of the water – and the ship itself, Wallace said. Divers, helicopters and sonar technology were being used and had located several vehicles submerged in the river, which is about 50-feet-deep where the bridge collapsed.

"This water is current influenced, so right now we think the tide is coming back in," he said.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore declared a state of emergency and said he is working with an interagency team to "quickly deploy federal resources from the Biden Administration."

"This is an unthinkable tragedy," Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said at a news conference.

Expert says river current makes search more difficult

Jim Bellingham, the executive director for the Johns Hopkins Institute for Assured Autonomy and expert in marine robotics lives in nearby Fells Point, and talked to USA TODAY about some of the challenges faced by rescuers.

“Nothing is staying put in the ocean,” he said. “Everything is moving” in the Patapsco River, a tidal estuary, which presents just one difficulty for rescue efforts. Rescuers would have to determine the speed and direction of the current to figure out where to search – toward Baltimore Harbor, or out toward the Chesapeake Bay.

Bellingham said it’s likely any workers who may have been on the bridge would have been wearing reflective vests and even flotation devices that would improve visibility in the dark river. They might also have flares, and are more easily spotted by rescue helicopters.

Rescuers are using sonar, lights, cameras and robotic machinery as well as human divers, but Bellingham said divers would face their own risks, as the wreckage might not be stable.

The longer the search goes on, the less likely rescuers are to find survivors, given the temperature of the water, and the likelihood of people being trapped with little to no air. But Baltimore, with many Navy and Coast Guard facilities and military contractors nearby, might be as well prepared to deal with the disaster as any place.

“Their job is to rescue people,” Bellingham said. “They want to believe they can do that, and there’s a tendency not to want to give up.”

– Phaedra Trethan

Cargo ship was headed for Sri Lanka

The container vessel was chartered by the major shipping company Maersk and was carrying its cargo, according to a statement from the company. When it crashed into the bridge, no Maersk crew and personnel were onboard the vessel, which is operated by charter vessel company Synergy Group and owned by Singapore-based Grace Ocean Pte.

The Dali was slated to arrive April 22 in Sri Lanka, according to MarineTraffic, a global ship tracking service.

"We are horrified by what has happened in Baltimore, and our thoughts are with all of those affected," Maersk said in a statement. "We are closely following the investigations conducted by authorities and Synergy, and we will do our utmost to keep our customers informed."

Synergy Marine Corp said the Dali collided with one of the pillars of the bridge and that all its crew members, including two pilots, have been accounted for and there were no reports of any injuries.

U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Erin Palmer said at a news conference Tuesday that the agencies remain focused on search-and-rescue. She did not comment on the crew of the ship or provide additional details about the collision.

All vessel traffic in and out of the Port of Baltimore was suspended until further notice, but the port is still open for truck transports, Wiedefeld said. Traffic, meanwhile, is being diverted from the area around the Key Bridge.

Baltimore port closed to ships 'until further notice'

Shortly after the bridge collapse, the Port of Baltimore suspended vessel traffic “until further notice,” according to its website.

“This does not mean the Port of Baltimore is shut down. We are still processing trucks inside of our terminals,” the statement said.

But Bloomberg reported that the port “looks to be out of commission indefinitely.”

At least 40 ships are now more or less trapped inside the port, according to Reuters. At least 30 other ships planned to arrive there.

“They will likely have to reroute shipping to other ports on the East Coast,” said Kevin Linderman, a professor and supply chain expert at Pennsylvania State University. “However, this will put additional demand on these ports, and shippers may not be able to access US markets” as efficiently, he said.

“One critical question is, can the other ports handle the products that were destined to Baltimore?”

– Daniel de Visé

'A lot of tears' for families

Baltimore residents turned out to support those affected by the tragedy. Dozens of people gathered at the Mt. Olive Baptist Church of Turner Station during an emotional prayer vigil Tuesday evening.Faith leaders and city officials including Mayor Brandon Scott prayed for the families of those missing after the bridge collapse and the first responders working at the scene.“We can only imagine what is going through their minds and through their hearts and through their bodies. None of us want to experience that,” Scott said Tuesday. “We have to lift them up, support them not just today, not just tomorrow but for the foreseeable future.”Father Ako Walker, priest at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, said a prayer in Spanish to show solidarity with the six people who are still missing after the collapse. Following the vigil, Walker told reporters he has been providing support to family members whose loved ones are missing.“It’s difficult for them,” he said. “You know, you can see the pain etched on their faces. There’s a lot of tears.”

Will the Baltimore bridge collapse impact cruises?

Baltimore is a destination for several major cruise lines. According to the Cruise Lines International Association, the industry’s leading trade group, published itineraries in the 2024 calendar year include a dozen ships making 115 stops in Baltimore.

Royal Caribbean and Carnival have April sailings that could be impacted by the bridge collapse, according to their websites. 

Carnival told USA TODAY it was premature to comment on impacts to future sailings.

American Cruise Lines has roundtrip sailings from Baltimore scheduled in May, according to its website. The cruise line told USA TODAY their schedules remain unaffected but will make adjustments if needed to future cruises.

Norwegian Cruise Line doesn’t appear to have any Baltimore sailings until September.

– Eve Chen and Nathan Diller

Will the port shutdown affect consumer goods, prices?

Several big firms have distribution warehouses near the port, including Amazon and FedEx, one analyst noted in a tweet on X.  

Even so, some analysts predict only a minimal impact on the movement of goods up and down the East Coast from the bridge collapse.

Baltimore’s port holds just 4% of all East Coast trade volume, according to S&P Global. New York’s port, by contrast, does 38% of that business.

Yet, the port offers the deepest harbor in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay, is closer to the Midwest than any other East Coast port, and is within an overnight drive of one-third of the US population, according to the port website .

The port boasts five public and 12 private terminals. In 2023, it ranked first in the nation in handling automobiles and light trucks. 

“For the American consumer, the biggest impact will be felt in terms of imported motor vehicles,” said Jason Miller, a business professor at Michigan State University. If sales remain strong, he said, “we could see inventories drop on the lots of dealers that sell imported vehicles until alternative arrangements can be made. This could increase motor vehicle prices for some makes and models.”

Alternate routes around collapsed Baltimore bridge

The Maryland Transportation Authority was suggesting drivers take Interstate 95 or Interstate 895 as alternatives to the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge along Interstate 695.

“I-695 Outer Loop closed at MD 10 (exit 2) and Inner Loop closed at MD 157/Peninsula Exp (exit 43),” MDTA said in a post on X.

Drivers could take several other, longer routes around Baltimore, but I-95 (Fort McHenry Tunnel) and I-895 (Baltimore Harbor Tunnel) are the most direct alternatives across the water.

There are few exceptions.

MDTA notes, vehicles carrying hazardous materials, including more than 10 pounds of propane, are not allowed in the tunnels. Additionally, vehicles more than 13-feet and 6-inches high or 8-feet wide may not use the 1-895 Baltimore Harbor Tunnel. Vehicles more than 14-feet and 6-inches high or 11-feet wide may not use the I-95 Fort McHenry Tunnel.

Those vehicles should use the western portion of I-695 instead.

How cold is the Patapsco River?

The Patapsco River is about 50 feet deep where the ship hit the bridge, officials said during a press conference Tuesday morning. Part of the 39-mile river helps form the Baltimore Harbor, just northwest of the bridge collapse, and it flows out to the Chesapeake Bay.

A buoy in the Patapsco River indicated the water temperature Tuesday morning was currently about 47 degrees, while the air is around 41 degrees, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . Whereas hypothermia is thought to occur at very cold temperatures, it can occur in waters below 70 degrees, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .

Key Bridge collapse draws comparisons to Florida's Sunshine Skyway Bridge collapse

In 1980, a Florida bridge also collapsed after a ship collided with it, leading to the deaths of 35 motorists and bus passengers.

A 1,200-foot chunk of the Sunshine Skyway bridge – which connects St. Petersburg and Bradenton – collapsed after the massive Summit Venture freighter slammed into one of its central support piers.

When the section of the bridge fell into Tampa Bay, it took a truck, seven cars and a Greyhound bus with it.

The Herald-Tribune, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported the crash happened during an intense thunderstorm , with winds reaching 80 mph and heavy rain. At the time, visibility was near-zero, according to local historians who made a documentary film about the collapse.

After the collapse, the freighter remained stuck beneath the bridge, with part of the roadway on top of its bow. Photos from the time also show how one motorist was able to skip his car to a stop just inches away from where the bridge fell into the water.

-Claire Thornton

How vital is the Francis Scott Key Bridge?

The Francis Scott Key Bridge, named for the author of the "Star Spangled Banner," is a 1.6-mile, 4-lane bridge that crosses over the Patapsco River, according to the MDTA. It opened in 1977.

The port’s private and public terminals handled 847,158 autos and light trucks in 2023, the most of any U.S. port. The port also handles farm and construction machinery, sugar, gypsum and coal, according to a Maryland government website.

The span is the outermost of three major Patapsco River crossings at Baltimore Harbor, according to the American Civil Engineering Society. The steel-arched bridge, with a total length of 8,636 feet, was the second-longest continuous-truss bridge span in the world when it was built and remains the second longest in the United States and third in the world, according to the society .

Contributing: Reuters; Tom Vanden Brook, Eduardo Cuevas , USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Missing workers in Key Bridge collapse presumed dead, search called off: Live updates

Is a Cruise Ship Crisis Ahead? Why Bigger Isn’t Necessarily Better

Richard Simms

• April 15, 2024

Admit it. When you saw photos and videos from the horrific accident in which a ship collided with Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key bridge, you assumed the seafaring vessel was a cruise ship.

No, not because you love cruising and have it on the brain 24/7 — although that might be true — but because it seemed a likely scenario. Maybe, on some level, we’re sort of expecting it.

How Big Is Too Big?

Royal Caribbean has come out with yet another ship ready to claim the “ Largest In the World ” title every year or two. When their latest, Icon of the Seas, was introduced, it got a lot of publicity. Not all of it was good.

Many, especially non-cruisers, had a bit of a brain meltdown upon seeing pics of the gargantuan vessel. Psychologists did interviews about why it triggered something within us. But at the end of the day, it boiled down to one fact: The ship is so big as to make us nervous.

We can’t help but think, “What if something goes wrong?”

So, on some level, we might have thought it was inevitable when we saw the bridge collapse in Baltimore . While this time around, it wasn’t a cruise ship, that doesn’t mean it won’t be next time.

In recent months, we’ve seen ships blown off their moorings. One ship had a steam-related “incident” that left two crew members dead , while another experienced one of our most terrifying fears, a fire at sea.

And it was only 12 short years ago that the Costa Concordia disaster claimed the lives of 33 people after running aground and partially sinking.

Size Matters… In More Ways Than One

To be clear, smaller ships can host catastrophic events just as easily as larger vessels. And to be even clearer, the odds of something catastrophic happening are relatively low. But to deny the possibility exists is to live—or at least vacation—in a fool’s paradise.

Another issue facing the cruise industry is that megaships carry a lot of passengers, and not every port they’d like to visit necessarily wants to welcome all those guests. It seems that every few months, another port deals with complaints from locals about overtourism.

On the one hand, the money brought to these communities by cruise passengers is vital to the economy. On the other hand, many in those areas believe that they are paying too high a metaphorical price in terms of the impact on their infrastructures and, on a more micro level, their way of life.

We are huge fans of all things cruising. We love big, small, and midsize ships and want nothing but the best for the industry.

That said, it might be time for the industry to closely examine itself and its path forward. How big is too big? For that matter, how many ships are too many?

In the months after the industry rebounded from the pandemic-caused shutdown, every executive from every cruise line spoke about the “pent-up demand for travel.”

It helped drive a desire to build new ships at a fevered pace, as many already sailing did so at 100 percent capacity or more.

But what happens when that pent-up desire has been sated? Or, God forbid, when an unexpected disaster strikes fear into the heart of would-be passengers, driving capacity down as they seek other ways to spend their vacation dollars?

Cruising isn’t going anywhere (thank God). But maybe, just maybe, it would behoove lines to follow in the footsteps of the automobile industry, which at a certain point said, “Hey, maybe not all of our vehicles need to be Cadillacs and Hummers. After all, something must be said for fitting into a smaller parking space.”

Or, in the case of cruise ships, port.

Recent Posts

Coast guard airlifts pregnant passenger from disney ship, carnival reminds cruisers vifp does not include this perk, carnival mardi gras crew honored for rescuing 16 people at sea, search halted for crew member who jumped from cruise ship, share this post, related posts.

Search for Missing Cruise Passenger in Cozumel Transitions to Recovery

Princess Cruises Rolls Out More Flexible Dining Options

Bringing you 15 years of cruise industry experience. Cruise Radio prioritizes well-balanced cruise news coverage and accurate reporting, paired with ship reviews and tips.   

Quick links

Cruise Radio, LLC © Copyright 2009-2024 | Website Designed By   Insider Perks, Inc

latest in US News

Torso, arm of college student allegedly killed by date, wash up...

Cow-calf rejected by its mother becomes gun store employee 'as...

'Class clown' behind 2001 Dartmouth killings granted parole after...

House committee advances bipartisan $95B foreign aid package for...

Trump leads Biden in Michigan and Georgia; razor-close in 2 other...

Mom, 40, falls 140 feet to her death while hiking Arizona...

Ukraine in danger of losing war by end of year, CIA director...

Israel hits back at Iran in retaliatory strike: reports

Breathtaking video shows pregnant disney cruise passenger dangling over the ocean in coast guard rescue.

• View Author Archive
• Email the Author
• Follow on Twitter
• Get author RSS feed

Contact The Author

Thanks for contacting us. We've received your submission.

Thanks for contacting us. We've received your submission.

Dramatic video captured the moment a pregnant woman suffering medical complications was airlifted from a Disney cruise ship.

Footage posted by the US Coast Guard shows a rescuer being lowered onto the Disney Fantasy on Monday in the Atlantic Ocean, about 180 miles northwest of Puerto Rico.

The 35-year-old woman, whose identity was not released, is then seen being raised by a Coast Guard MH-60T Jayhawk chopper to be flown to a hospital.

“Coast Guard watchstanders in Sector San Juan received a communication from the Disney Fantasy Monday morning requesting medevac assistance as the cruise ship was transiting 260 nautical miles northwest of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico,” the agency said.

The Coast Guard also deployed an HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft from Air Station Miami to rendezvous with the cruise ship.

“Once on scene, the Coast Guard Jayhawk aircrew deployed their rescue swimmer aboard the cruise ship, who prepared a rescue basket and litter to safely hoist the patient and cruise ship doctor aboard the aircraft,” the Coast Guard said.

The woman was transported to the Fernando Luis Ribas Dominicci Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where she was treated at Centro Medico Hospital, officials said.

“Our crew was able to quickly, safely, and efficiently execute a long-range MEDEVAC for the patient to receive the higher level of care she required,” Lt. Cmdr. Todd Stephens said in a statement. “This case demonstrates the value of good crew resource management and the capabilities of our Jayhawk helicopter.”

Ensign Michael Riccio, Coast Guard Sector San Juan operations unit leader, said his crew was “glad everything came together to help this passenger.

“The competency displayed by the Disney Fantasy crew and the Coast Guard personnel and units involved made all the difference,” he said.

It was unclear if the woman’s emergency was related to her pregnancy.

The Post has reached out to Disney Cruise Line for comment.

According to the company’s frequently asked questions , women must be no more than 23 weeks pregnant in order to set sail. If they enter the 24th week of pregnancy during the sailing, “they will be refused passage due to safety concerns.”

Share this article:

Advertisement