The 984-foot container vessel that lost power and crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge on Tuesday had issues with its propulsion system just months before, records show.
The Singapore-flagged Dali suffered a power outage as it bore down on the I-695 bridge, before ramming into a vital support beam that gave way and caused part of the structure to collapse into the Patapsco River in Baltimore.
“We can confirm that the crew notified authorities of a power issue,” Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said in a press conference on Tuesday.
During the blackout, the Dali “experienced momentary loss of propulsion,” the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said in a statement, citing a report from Synergy Marine, the ship’s manager.
The same ship was flagged in June for an issue related to its propulsion system, according to records from an international database of port controls in Asia Pacific.
However, it’s still unclear if the deficiency found in June was at all related to what caused the crash on Tuesday.
The issue was reported in San Antonio, Chile on June 27, and listed as a propulsion and auxiliary system deficiency. An attached note reads: “Gauges, thermometers, etc.”
Per the records, this problem was not deemed as grounds for the ship to be detained in Chile.
Clay Diamond, the executive director of the American Pilots’ Association, told The Washington Post that the Dali lost power at around 1:20 a.m., around eight minutes before the crash.
Pilots on board tried to start an emergency diesel generator to repower the ship and restart electrical systems, he said.
But Diamond told USA TODAY that the propulsion didn’t appear to kick back in.
“There was still some steerage left when they initially lost power,” he said, per the outlet. “We’ve been told the ship never recovered propulsion.”
Harford County MD Fire & EMS/Handout via REUTERS
Authorities and Synergy Marine, headquartered in Singapore, are investigating the cause of the power failure and allision.
The Dali was previously involved in a separate mishap. In 2016, it scraped its hull against a quay in Antwerp, an incident that was attributed to a pilot error.
On Wednesday, Singapore’s maritime officials said the Dali had passed previous port inspections and that the June incident was “a faulty monitor gauge for fuel pressure,” which was fixed before the ship left port.
When reached for comment, a representative for Synergy Marine referred Business Insider to the Singapore authorities’ statement.
The bridge’s collapse has triggered a state of emergency in Baltimore, and six members of a small construction crew working on the bridge during the crash are presumed dead. Authorities say officials managed to stop traffic on the bridge before it collapsed.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge was Baltimore’s biggest bridge, and the loss of such critical infrastructure will likely cause supply chain issues across multiple industries. Around 11.3 million vehicles use the bridge annually, per the Maryland Transport Authority.
The nearby Port of Baltimore has also been closed to vessels until further notice, with experts telling BI’s Dominic Reuter that the closure could halt about $15 million worth of economic activity daily.
This port is also particularly important for the automotive industry because it’s a special terminal for wheeled cargo like vehicles and heavy farming equipment.
Coal, gypsum, sugar, paper, chocolate, and ice cream are commonly moved through the Port of Baltimore, BI’s Erin Snodgrass reported.
Meanwhile, shares of Maersk, the Danish shipping company that chartered the Dali, dropped as much as 8% in Copenhagen on Tuesday. The firm has declared that its lanes through Baltimore are closed, for now.
March 27, 2023: This story was updated to reflect a response from Synergy Marine and a new MPA statement on the Dali’s reported issue with its propulsion system in June.
