The 24-page report states that the 947-foot-long Singapore-flagged containership, named the Dali, went cold iron at least twice in port from blackouts and was “transiting out of Baltimore Harbor ... when it experienced a loss of electrical power and propulsion” and knocked down the 1.6-mile, 45-year-old bridge.
NTSB investigators say electrical failures the day before the massive ship was to leave port forced the crew to “adjust the configuration of the electrical system” about 10 hours before pulling out of Baltimore Harbor.
NTSB also said it is still reviewing work that may have been done on the electrical system, but it has definitively narrowed down the cause of the crash to tripped electrical breakers that left the ship powerless and without steering in the Patapsco River.
According to the NTSB, a crew member mistakenly closed an engine exhaust damper for one of the Dali’s four diesel generators, which clogged exhaust gases and caused the engine to stall and the diesel generators to stop working.
The NTSB said the Dali reported no blackout incidents while docked in Newark, New Jersey, and Norfolk, Virginia, before arriving in Baltimore. However, there were conflicting claims that the ship was experiencing electrical failures while docked 48 hours at Seagirt Marine Terminal but was allowed to depart anyway.
The assertion surfaced on March 27 when Julie Mitchell, a Baltimore director with Container Royalty Fund, which manages benefits and advocates for port workers, told CNN that longshoremen and others told her the Dali had struggled pier-side with “total power failure, loss of engine power, everything.”
Ms. Mitchell said the ship should never have left the dock. “They shouldn’t have let the ship leave port until they got it on under control,” she said.
On March 28, however, Ms. Mitchell had changed her tune. “I redacted my comment. I have no comment,” she told The Epoch Times, and she hung up the phone without elaboration.
Ms. Mitchell, however, appeared to be sharing accurate scuttlebutt from shipyard workers, according to NTSB investigators, who say the crew told them of desperate measures to restore power to steer the ship, including one shipmate nearly being crushed by debris from the bridge.
The investigation is ongoing, the NTSB said, adding that the final report may take up to two years to finish.
“The NTSB is still investigating the electrical configuration following the first in-port blackout and potential impacts on the events during the accident voyage,” the report said.
The Dali remains pinioned to the fractured pylons of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, although dredged channels have allowed traffic to move through the river into Baltimore Harbor. On May 13, controlled explosions removed the section of the bridge that had fallen onto the ship’s bow.
The bill would eliminate the federal cost-share requirement for assistance from the Federal Highway Administration Emergency Relief Program’s disaster-damaged highways and bridges fund.
