Baltimore bridge collapse after massive cargo ship collision

this was the moment that a 32,000 ton

container ship slammed into a Steel

Bridge in Baltimore toppling the

structure in a matter of seconds we

advised the entire Bridge the entire Key

Bridge has fallen into the harbor as the

sun rose the scale of the destruction of

the Francis Scott Key bridge came into

full view the 300 met long ship with its

nose rammed into the steel workor of the

bridge a bridge that stood for nearly 50

years is but in the early hours of

Tuesday Morning Came Crashing Down in an

instant after the Singapore registered

vessel struck one of its main support

columns at approximately 1:30 a.m. to

hear the words that the Key Bridge has

collapsed it's

shocking um and

heartbreaking a state of emergency has

been declared in Baltimore on America's

East Coast as divers helicopters and

support ships search for survivors

authorities said at least eight

construction workers were on the bridge

mending potholes at the time one is in

hospital in a serious condition one is

uninjured but six others are still

unaccounted for the governor said the

container ship was traveling at a very

rapid speed of about 8 knots as captured

by this web camera and that it lost

power causing its lights to go out

moments before it hit the bridge the

crew on board issued a Mayday call that

officials said allowed them to quickly

halt additional traffic coming onto the

bridge though it's not clear whether

there were any Vehicles actually on the

bridge at the moment of collapse did you

just say that it issued a Mayday in

enough time that you were able to stop

all traffic from entering both sides

we're thankful that between the MayDay

and the collapse that uh that we had

officials who were able to to begin to

stop the flow of traffic but there were

some on the bridge there have been

reports that have been sonar that have

detected vehicles at the bottom of the

water there could still be people

trapped inside or potentially have died

in vehicles is that correct well the

investigation is still going on uh to

find out exactly exactly how many people

in what was situation but the thing that

we do know many of the vehicles were

stopped before they got onto the bridge

which uh which which uh saved lives in a

in a in a very very heroic way in the

nearby town of dondor locals were still

in shock having been woken up by

crashing sounds in the middle of the

night it made my house shake my friend

she thought that there maybe a pre

crashed into the water or something like

that so it was that loud yeah the only

thing we can do is just hope for the two

survivors and pray for the rest I I

don't understand how this bridge came

down in a matter of just two seconds and

you think to yourself well you know how

many times have have I been on the

bridge how many times have my family

members friends traveled on this bridge

there there's really no words very very

very scary stuff when my husband got up

he said press the Key Bridge is gone

yeah we're both iron workers you know

our Union Hall built that bridge and so

so of such historic significance it it's

it's devastating it's very sad and so

much tonnage of Steel on infrastructure

a magnificent infrastructure to go down

like like a

toothpicks and not to mention the the

lives you know everybody's praying for

those poor

people it's not clear when or how they

will begin to untangle the wreckage of

this morning's devastating accident in

the meantime the active search and

rescue mission continues but the hope

for survivors in these chilly Waters

dims with every passing

hour well what's really struck me is

just how emotional people are here

particularly down on the water's edge

one man uh told me that the bridge was

like an old friend he said someone that

he looked forward to seeing every

morning as he drank his cup of coffee

nobody here can believe how the bridge

crumpled as it did in just a matter of

seconds of course beyond the emotion uh

there is the trade angle Baltimore is

one of America's biggest ports fing

billions of dollars worth of goods every

day but as long as that container ship

there you can see behind me remains

stuck in the river nothing can get in or

out uh in the last hour or Joe Biden has

described this as a terrible accident he

said that all federal dollars will be

made available to replace the bridge but

nobody I can tell you wants to say uh

has it a guess how long that will take

one thing though is for sure had this

incident happened uh during rush hour

rather than the early hours of this

morning we would be looking at an all

together different story

Shor Kennedy thank you very much well in

a moment we'll look at the impact on

International Trad now one of America's

major ports is blocked but how could

such a bridge collapse in the first

place and so quickly we can speak now to

structural engineer Dr Mark Richards um

was there something about the design of

the bridge that made the impact so

catastrophic um I think I think in these

sort of situations it's it's very easy

to uh search for uh answers for these

sort of catastrophes which is based on

uh on design and I think it is right in

fact that we now as we respond to these

this kind of event is to scrutinize all

things which could have been at fault

but I think that if we look at the

engineering here if I may and of course

I'm removing myself here from the

catastrophe itself um which is very

distressing um but if we look at the

engineering then there's many safeguards

in place uh for the design of these

sorts of structures to consider uh

possible events um I think the key here

is um whether this particular event

would have been within those cases which

are considered to be uh possible or not

um was striking wasn't it Mark was was

the way that the whole the bridge that

Central structure seemed to come down

and so quickly and is that because it

was all effectively one piece yeah that

this well this sort of this sort of

bridge is is designed as a uh as a latis

uh trust structure it also relies on the

fact that it's a continuous structure

which spans over um a number of supports

and in fact in this case there's four

supports one of those supports was

catastrophically removed and the ability

of the bridge then to to to continue to

perform is is very much compromised um I

think we have to look at the event which

caused it uh um and and I think that

maybe the the lessons are is to is to

understand what we can do with the sorts

of navigation channels to uh to make

sure these sort of events uh uh don't

take place rather than to try and design

buildings or Bridges to to withstand any

event that's right CU it because it was

in this major shipping Lane right and I

understand that a lot of bridges in

shipping lanes have given extra

protections uh to stop Ships coming into

contact with them at all in the first

place you surprised that there was an

impact well as you say these sorts of

structures with this level of

of of contribution to the overall

infrastructure are usually protected in

the uh in the water course as well um

I've only seen video just as the rest of

us have um but it's normal that um

obstacles are put in the way of bridges

such that they act as a as a first as a

first hit so to speak so that they don't

actually reach the bridges themselves so

and of course it's it's easy to

speculate that maybe those things

weren't in place I don't know um but I

think it's also the management of the uh

of the navigation Channel as well which

uh I'm sure will be under scrutiny as

well here Mark Richard thank you so much

for that from an engineering perspective

so uh what impact will this have on

trade Marco foron is director general of

The Institute of export and uh

International Trade it's a it's a busy

Port isn't it Baltimore Marco what

impact will it

have well it's the ninth busiest port uh

in the us it is the number one port for

automotive uh and vehicles you know over

750,000 uh uh cars uh and vehicles are

handled through the port each year and

at a time when we've got constraints in

the Panama Canal and the ongoing crisis

uh in the Red Sea this is going to have

a significant and dramatic impact uh on

trade in the US but also on US exports

and particularly relevant for the UK and

the EU is the fact that over half a

million tons of LNG liquefied natural

gas is exported from Baltimore um uh

each year each month uh and you know the

US is the UK's largest supplier of LNG

so there will be Ripple effects then

that we will feel here in the UK

potentially because of this one port in

the US being shut down

temporarily yes and and the the

implications of this will will Ripple

out you know there were ships that were

due to be uh birthing in Baltimore which

now won't be able to we've got ships

that are still stuck in uh Baltimore and

then you've got the onshore uh

infrastructure and supply chain that

will now have to shift to try and cope

with that disruption so so the impact of

this is going to go uh for for many

weeks or months depending on how quickly

we can get Baltimore back and

operational but it has to be born in

mind that this is uh a a serious

situation and we are still looking at a

search uh and rescue and our thoughts

are with those who've been directly

impacted absolutely um but I mean you

say it's what the main Us Port for

importing cars and we're all familiar

with supply chain issues these days I

mean will there come a cost in certain

products and

materials there will be because there'll

be disruption and you'll have the the

supply chain will have to adjust both

for components that were coming out of

the US and cars coming out of the US but

also those major UK and European brands

that would du to be uh sending their

cars uh into the US and you know it's

Fiat uh Nissan uh Jaguar Land Rover Audi

Volkswagen all have been impacted

because they would normally be exporting

into

Baltimore Marco Fon thank you very much

for speaking with us Kathy back now to

you in London