INVESTIGATIONS: 'We're a dead ship': Hundreds of cargo ships lost propulsion in U.S. waters in recent years

[mahatmakanejeeves]

INVESTIGATIONS

‘We’re a dead ship’: Hundreds of cargo ships lost propulsion in U.S. waters in recent years

While the ship that felled the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore suffered a total blackout, such losses of engine power — including near bridges or ports — are hardly a one-off

By Joyce Sohyun Lee, Ian Duncan, Jon Swaine and Steven Rich
April 16, 2024 at 5:38 p.m. EDT

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The APL Qingdao cargo ship floats near the Verrazzano Bridge in New York on April 6 after the ship lost propulsion the previous night. (Eric Matuzsan)

Less than two weeks after Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge was destroyed by an out-of-control cargo ship, another huge container ship passed beneath a busy bridge connecting New York and New Jersey and then suddenly decelerated in a narrow artery of one of the nation’s largest ports.

“We’re a dead ship,” said a voice over the maritime radio a short time later, invoking an industry term that often refers to a ship that is unable to move on it own. ... Three tug boats helped shepherd the APL Qingdao — a vessel more than 1,100 feet long and flying under the flag of Malta — from where it lost propulsion near the Bayonne Bridge to a safe location, authorities said. The ship dropped anchor just upstream from the even busier Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, which carries about 200,000 vehicles per day.

The April 5 incident is one of hundreds in which massive cargo ships lost propulsion, many near bridges and ports, according to a Washington Post analysis of Coast Guard records. ... The findings indicate that the kind of failure that preceded the March 26 Baltimore bridge collapse — the 984-foot Dali is believed to have lost the ability to propel itself forward as it suffered a more widespread power outage — was far from a one-off among the increasingly large cargo ships that routinely sail close to critical infrastructure.

Around Baltimore alone, ships lost propulsion nearly two dozen times in the three years before the tragedy last month, the Post review found — including a November 2021 incident in which a 981-foot container ship lost propulsion for 15 minutes soon after it passed under the Key Bridge. In 2020, a ship the same size as the Dali lost propulsion “in the vicinity of the Bay Bridge” near Annapolis, records show.

{snip}



Tug boats help free the Ever Forward south of Baltimore in 2022 after it ran aground and was stuck for a month. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)

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Samuel Granados and Meghan Hoyer contributed to this report.

[getagrip_already]

1. red over red - the captain is dead.... lol

That's a pneumonic for applicants taking the us coast guard captains test to remember the light pattern for a ship not under command.

It basically means the ship cannot be controlled or maneuvered, and cannot get out of your way or avoid any dangers on its own.

If you see a vessel with one red light directly over another, it is not having a good day. Or night. 2 Black balls is the corresponding day shape for a vessel not under command.

[Srkdqltr]

2. Is there some sort of reason this happens?

Lack of maintenance? Something sinister? Electronic jamming?