(WASHINGTON) — The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Tuesday that a single loose wire on the 984-foot containership Dali caused an electrical blackout that led to the vessel veering and contacting the nearby Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Md. The span then collapsed, killing six highway workers.
At Tuesday’s public meeting at NTSB headquarters, investigators said the loose wire in the ship’s electrical system caused a breaker to unexpectedly open – beginning a sequence of events that led to two vessel blackouts and a loss of both propulsion and steering near the 2.37-mile-long Key Bridge on March 26, 2024. Investigators found that wire-label banding prevented the wire from being fully inserted into a terminal block spring-clamp gate, causing an inadequate connection.
After the initial blackout, Dali’s heading began swinging to starboard toward Pier 17 of the Key Bridge. Investigators found that the pilots and the bridge team attempted to change the vessel’s trajectory, but the vessel’s loss of propulsion so close to the bridge rendered their actions ineffective. A substantial portion of the bridge subsequently collapsed into the river, and portions of the pier, deck and truss spans collapsed onto the vessel’s bow and forwardmost container bays.
A seven-person road maintenance crew and one inspector were on the bridge when the vessel struck. Six of the highway workers died. The NTSB found that the quick actions of the Dali pilots, shoreside dispatchers and the Maryland Transportation Authority to stop bridge traffic prevented greater loss of life.
“Our investigators routinely accomplish the impossible, and this investigation is no different,” said NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy. “The Dali, at almost 1,000 feet, is as long as the Eiffel Tower is high, with miles of wiring and thousands of electrical connections. Finding this single wire was like hunting for a loose rivet on the Eiffel Tower.
“But like all of the accidents we investigate, this was preventable,’’ Homendy said. “Implementing NTSB recommendations in this investigation will prevent similar tragedies in the future.”
Contributing to the collapse of the Key Bridge and the loss of life was the lack of countermeasures to reduce the bridge’s vulnerability to collapse due to impact by oceangoing vessels, which have only grown larger since the Key Bridge’s opening in 1977. When the Japan-flagged containership Blue Nagoya contacted the Key Bridge after losing propulsion in 1980, the 390-foot vessel caused only minor damage. Dali, however, is 10 times the size of Blue Nagoya.
As part of the investigation, the NTSB in March released an initial report on the vulnerability of bridges nationwide to large vessel strikes. The report found that the Maryland Transportation Authority, and many other owners of bridges spanning navigable waterways used by oceangoing vessels, were likely unaware of the potential risk that a vessel collision could pose to their structures. This was despite longstanding guidance from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials recommending that bridge owners perform these assessments.
The NTSB sent letters to 30 bridge owners identified in the report, urging them to evaluate their bridges and, if needed, develop plans to reduce risks. All recipients have since responded, and the status of each recommendation is available on the NTSB’s website.
As a result of the investigation, the NTSB issued new safety recommendations to the U.S. Coast Guard; U.S. Federal Highway Administration; the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials; Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK); the American National Standards Institute; the American National Standards Institute Accredited Standards Committee on Safety in Construction and Demolitions Operations A10; HD Hyundai Heavy Industries; Synergy Marine Pte. Ltd.; WAGO Corp., the electrical component manufacturer; and multiple bridge owners across the nation.
A synopsis of actions taken Tuesday, including the probable cause, findings and recommendations, can be found here. The complete investigation report will be released in the coming weeks.
– National Transportation Safety Board
