I have a question about the Port of Baltimore

[ribrepin]

I live near the shipping lanes for Seattle. A Harbor Pilot comes aboard ships near the entrance of the Juan de Fuca Straights and helps take the ships into port. Does the Port of Baltimore use Harbor Pilots? I not trying to start any conspiracy theories - just curious.

[Walleye]

1. I understand there was a harbor pilot at the helm

I think I read that, plus I read that the port of Baltimore doesn’t make use of tugboats as much the way some harbors do. I suppose it’s remotely possible it could’ve been some sort of sabotage, but it looks to me like the engine went out and they lost steering,. It was just a particularly bad place

[ribrepin]

2. OK - I hadn't read anything about a harbor Pilot being aboard

Last edited Fri Mar 29, 2024, 06:19 AM - Edit history (1)

I was just curious. I believe it's standard practice to have a Harbor Pilot aboard the big ships in port - it sure is in the Seattle area. It looks to me that the electrical went out. I don't think there was any sabotage.

[cloudbase]

3. There was one pilot and one apprentice pilot aboard.

When I was a cadet on the engineering side, my counterpart was a deck cadet who went on to become a Chesapeake Bay pilot.

[ribrepin]

4. Thank you

From what I can tell the shipboard personal really tried to warn to avoid as many causalities as possible.

[AverageOldGuy]

5. There was a harbor pilot and an apprentice harbor pilot on board

However, it appears as though the ship lost all power, required between one and two minutes to restore power, during the outage, the ship swung toward the bridge piling and pilot could not correct course in time.

Also there were two harbor tugs, however, the tugs moved the ship into the shipping channel then departed.

[Igel]

6. Internet.

https://apnews.com/article/ship-pilots-baltimore-bridge-collapse-0730504bbc045473cf0e15f5fdc38534

The expert pilots who navigate massive ships in and out of Baltimore’s port must often maneuver with just 2 feet (0.6 meter) of clearance from the channel floor and memorize charts, currents and every other possible maritime variable.

The highly specialized role — in which a pilot temporarily takes control of a ship from its regular captain — is coming under the spotlight this week.

Two pilots were at the helm of the cargo ship Dali about 1:25 a.m. Tuesday when it lost power and, minutes later, crashed into a pillar of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing the bridge to collapse and kill six construction workers.