Cargo Ship Had 2 Blackouts Before It Struck Key Bridge, NTSB Says

BALTIMORE, MD — Two electrical blackouts disabled the controls of a huge cargo ship before it crashed into Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge in 2024, causing it to collapse and kill six road construction workers, National Transportation Safety Board officials said Tuesday.

The crew was able to get the power back on after the first blackout, which was caused by a loose wire,but a second blackout shortly after was caused by a lack of fuel because the fuel flushing pump used to supply the generators didn't restart automatically, the way the main pumps are designed to do.

NTSB investigator Todd Gianelloni on Tuesday said the crew did periodically inspect the wiring system on the container ship Dali, but there were no instructions on how to check individual wire connections, and doing so would have been labor-intensive and impractical on a ship with thousands of wires.

Gianelloni said the NTSB believes that if the crew had used infrared thermal imaging to inspect the connections, the loose critical wire might have been discovered before the collision. Investigators noted that infrared thermal imaging, which can detect problems that aren't visible, is frequently used in the maritime industry.

“It is a widely used method,” said Bart Barnum, an NTSB investigator.

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy noted during the hearing that there was no issue with the ship's fuel. That was something speculated about shortly after the crash.

NTSB investigator Bridget Quinn said the growth in container ships over the years presents a greater threat to bridges, but the Baltimore bridge wasn’t adequately fortified to protect against today’s massive cargo ships, even though stakeholders in the port first discussed improving bridge pier protections as early as two decades before the collapse.

“Staff found that larger vessels pose risks and challenges to maritime safety due to their reduced maneuverability and restricted waterways,” Quinn said.

According to a preliminary report released by the NTSB last year, the Dali suffered two electrical blackouts that led to major equipment failure hours before it struck the bridge.

Officials wrote that the Dali had experienced electrical problems the day before the collision. In the hours before the ship left the Port of Baltimore on a voyage to Sri Lanka, the ship lost power twice, causing the vessel to lose propulsion and the ability to steer.

The ship then crashed into a supporting column of the bridge about 1:30 a.m. on March 26, 2024, causing the bridge to collapse into the Patapsco River.

Six workers who were filling potholes on the bridge at the time of the collision fell to their deaths when the bridge collapsed.

The workers killed were José Mynor López, Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, Maynor Yasir Suazo-Sandoval, Carlos Daniel Hernandez Estrella, and Miguel Angel Luna Gonzalez.

The group of workers hailed from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

While Maryland Transportation Authority Police quickly shut down traffic on the bridge before the collision, the construction workers were never notified, according to a Baltimore Banner report citing Tuesday's hearing. Had police made contact immediately upon learning of the wayward vessel, it would have given the crew 89 seconds to evacuate.

The hearing comes a day after state officials said the Key Bridge will take two years longer to rebuild than initially projected and cost more than twice the preliminary estimate.

The bridge was previously forecast to open in fall 2028 and cost as much as $1.9 billion. Monday’s estimate put the price at between $4.3 billion and $5.2 billion, with an expected opening in late 2030.

“Preliminary cost and project time estimates were made less than two weeks after the initial crash and before any engineering or design studies were conducted,” Gov. Wes Moore said in a prepared statement Monday. “Since then, national economic conditions have deteriorated and material costs have increased. At the same time, elevated costs have resulted from federal design and resilience standards — not discretionary state choices."

He continued, “Just as families across the country are dealing with the reality of increased costs, so is Maryland. Trade policies out of Washington, D.C. have raised prices on everything — including essential materials we need in order to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge.”

The new bridge will have a main span of 1,665 feet and a deck height of 230 feet, an increase in size to accommodate modern marine traffic and comply with guidelines from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, according to the Maryland Transportation Authority.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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