Let me begin by stating I am no expert on maritime accidents and related technologies, but I’m confident the Diva accident occurred because of international negligence. Every country that allows these massive ships into their harbors along with the ship’s owners bear the brunt of responsibility.
Any High School Graduate . . .
I can say this because any high school graduate already knows how this accident could have been prevented. By escorting these ships with tugboats. They need not wait for the results of any post-accident report.
Thousands Could Have Been Killed
Had the recent container ship accident occurred during rush hour or on a major travel day, thousands may have died a horrible death. And such an accident is fully preventable.
Very large ships and ocean liners are already guided by assistance from tugboats docking in and out of port docking areas. What they are apparently not always assisted with, however, is when they pass under a bridge. Perhaps now that will change.
Criminal Neglect?
Given the risk to our billion dollar or more bridges and losses in lives, escorting these massive ships until they are safely past these bridges would seem like a logical thing to do. It has just been learned that the captain of the Diva, three minutes before the crash, called out over the radio looking for any tugboats in the area. As reported by CNN:
“The first sign of distress came just under three minutes before the crash when the cargo ship’s pilot called over the radio requesting any tugboats in the area to respond to the vessel, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said in a news conference Wednesday.”
Apparently Not Mandatory
But at least here in America this is not apparently done or made mandatory for very large ships. It amounts to criminal neglect, something the Dali accident serves to graphically demonstrate. I read recently that the Dali may have stalled because of cheap fuel being used. It this turns out to be true, that is a secondary cause.
Had this ship been accompanied by one or two tugboats it could have been guided straight through the bridge despite the power failure. If a ship proves too large to be guided by a tug, it’s use should be questioned. A ship so massive is a threat to any large city port to handle safely. Even one accident like this way out weights the cost of using tugboats to insure save navigation for vessels this large. For example, the Verrazzano Bridge in today’s dollars would cost about 2.45 billion dollars. The Key Bridge cost about 743 million in today’s dollars.
Even Worse . . .
Even worse accidents are possible in our harbors. I remember maybe 25 or so years ago reading about the dangers posed by huge ships like these carrying liquified natural gas if one were to explode in a city harbor. It was theorized that had that happened with such a large ship after passing the Verrazzano Bridge approaching Manhattan, there could be as many as 500,000 deaths! Well, such a ship is allowed into Boston Harbor currently!! I was unable to find out if New York allows such ships into harbor, but I think they are barred. I believe places like New Orleans and Galveston do allow them. It’s an accident or potential terror act waiting to happen.
Profits Before Safety
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to suspect that profits have been placed ahead of safety, with hundreds of massive ships being produced and in use today like the Diva. And as just pointed out, it’s not just container ships we have to worry about.
Mammoth cruise ships daily sail under bridges all over the world every day. Even one accident is a disaster we can’t afford, in some ways not unlike a nuclear power plant accident. Pretending such an accident could not happen is folly. I also fear that the terrorist lunatics of the world were just handed a huge vulnerability and “weapon” they could exploit seek to exploit.