The Dali freighter that crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge suffered a “serious electrical problem” several days earlier while docked in Baltimore, a dock worker said.
Julie Mitchell, co-manager of Container Royalty, a freight tracking company, told CNN the ship was anchored in port for at least 48 hours prior to the fatal crash.
“And those two days they had serious power outages… they had a serious electrical problem,” Mitchell told the broadcaster. “It was a total power failure, loss of engine power, everything.”
Mitchell explained that coolers had tripped the fire breakers on board the ship on several occasions, and technicians had tried to fix the problem. She said she did not know if the problem had been resolved when the ship sailed.
The 2.6-mile Key Bridge partially collapsed after the cargo container ship crashed into one of its support structures just before 1:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.
The Dali freighter that crashed into the Key Bridge suffered a “serious electrical problem” while docked in Baltimore a few days earlier, a dock worker said
Maryland Governor Wes Moore said the ship’s crew informed officials that the power had gone out just before the collision.
Mitchell told CNN that major power problems aboard large ships like the Dali “don’t happen that often at all,” describing the bizarre incident as “very rare.”
“They should not have allowed the ship to leave port before they had it under control,” she said.
Six workers who were pouring concrete on the bridge to repair potholes as part of a graveyard shift are still missing and presumed dead.
It has been widely reported that the Dali suffered a loss of propulsion, causing steering problems in the lead-up to the crash that caused the iconic bridge to collapse like a ‘house of cards’.
An officer on the Dali also said the engines “coughed and then stopped” before the crash. There was not enough time before the ship hit the bridge to drop the anchors, causing the ship to drift.
“The ship stalled, no steering power and no electronics… The smell of burnt fuel was everywhere in the engine room and it was pitch black,” the officer said.
When a ship like the Dali loses power, backup generators kick in, but they don’t perform the same functions as the main power supply, Pagoulatos said.
In 2016, the Dali was involved in an accident in the port of Antwerp.
According to the Antwerp port authorities, the container ship Dali hit a quay on July 11, 2016 when trying to leave the North Sea container terminal.
A 2016 inspection of the ship in Antwerp found it had a structural problem, which was described as “damage to the hull affecting seaworthiness,” according to data published on Equasis, a public database for the shipping industry.
Inspectors noticed a problem with the Dali’s machinery in June, but a more recent investigation revealed no defects, according to shipping information system Equasis.
According to port authorities, the ship was docked for some time for repairs after the incident.
“In general, these accidents are investigated and ships are only allowed to leave after experts have determined that it is safe for them to do so,” a spokesperson for the port of Antwerp told Reuters.