Closure of the Port of Baltimore causes delays
The Dali, a cargo ship had planned to leave the Port of Baltimore to go to Sri Lanka. As the Cargo ship headed towards the direction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, they experienced a blackout and lost power in the engine. The ships backup generators managed to turn on but the propulsion system were still offline. Once they realized that they had lost power, the crew had tried to turn the ship as much as possible while also dropped their anchor to slow down and steer away from the bridge. They also requested that the bridge be shut down to traffic. Despite the crew's efforts, the ship still collided with the bridge.
Traffic in the Port of Baltimore has been shut down until it is safe for passage. Baltimore is one of the largest ports for vehicles and containers, which "ranks first among US ports for autos and light trucks, handling a record 850,00 vehicles last year." Most of the traffic can be rerouted to two tunnels likely causing delays. However some vehicles carrying hazardous items will need to be rerouted even further. Similarly cargo ships would have to dock either philadelphia, norfolk, or New York/New Jersey. On the other end, because of attacks on ships in the red sea, vessels are forced to take different paths around Africa to finally reach Asia.
The congestion will increase costs of shipping due to the delays in transportation. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics states that the disruptions to the shipping of the goods are unlikely to cause large problems for the US economy as a whole. But because the port had been shut down indefinetly, many people have temporarily lost their jobs and the cost of the closure can't be calculated. President Joe Biden has stated that he wanted the federal governemnt to pay for they rebuilding of the bridge with funds from the Federal Highway Administration, Bipartisan Infrastructure law, and fudning from congress if needed.
In my opinion, not only should the bridge be funded, but the people left jobless and others effected should be subsidized. Do you guys think the federal governement should provide funds for people along with the bridge? If not, how should they be supported, if at all?
13 comments:
For the people who lost their jobs due to the accident, the federal government should employ them in the project to rebuilt the bridge. Although the job would be temporary, an income is an income. Additionally, I’m mainly concerned as to how such an accident occurred. How does such an event happen? What blips were made in the bureaucratic process?
It seems like the federal government has an incentive to fund the rebuilding of the bridge because the effects of the loss of the bridge can be felt nationwide. While these effects may be indirect, the loss of this form of trade will negatively impact the economy, as you mentioned through unemployment and slower transportation. Due to this nationwide incentive to resolve these problems, the federal government could decide to fund the bridge.
This is an opportunity for growth to fix bureaucratic inefficiencies that led to this grave tragedy. It seems like this was a difficult problem for the crew to avoid in the moment, but maybe a series of decisions before led to their inability to regain control of the ship. I saw the video of how the bridge fell, and it was really frightening. It serves as a reminder of the value of adhering to security standards.
I feel like the company that owns/is responsible for the ship should also be helping assist the government in finding employment for the people who lost their jobs, as well as damage fees for the bridge. I found it interesting in the New York times article (one of the sources linked in the post) that found that the in the past, that company has been cited for various labor violations, from underpaying to keeping crew onboard. While this isn't directly related to the issue at hand, I feel that incidents such as these highlight the company's practice and put into question whether they should be operating legally.
It is insane to me that we live in an age with so much instant communication and powerful technologies, yet incidents like this still happen. It was truly horrific, and it was very lucky that this occurred late at night, as opposed to sometime during the day where the casualty count would be in the hundreds. Nonetheless, tragedies like this just shouldn't happen.
The death of the construction workers and loss of jobs are tragedies that, as Leo pointed out, shouldn't be happening. Though technology used to navigate and control ships and bridges are quite vast, emergencies like these are still possibilities. However, whether it is the lack of proper emergency procedures on the ship, or improper bridge infrastructure, blackouts shouldn't be able to cause such a tragedy with proper preparation.
There is also the unneeded tragedy of job loss. Sudden job losses happen all the time, however, despite the vast wealth the US government controls, blackouts like these shouldn't be able to crash the jobs of many. Instead of taking reactive measures in response to the mass job loss, the US government should take proactive measures to prevent it in the first place. Policies such as better unemployment benefits and welfare can stop workers from falling into poverty immediately after losing their jobs.
Jake brought up an interesting point regarding the ship company, and I definitely agree that they should bear some or most of the financial responsibility for what happened. Though the blackout does seem like something mostly out of control of the crew, past company practices of carelessness can definitely shed light on their current ones. Although it is devastating that the workers on the bridge were not found, I’m glad that they were able to stop the traffic and save the lives of hundreds of others. And, as the CNN article said, “the money that will eventually be spent rebuilding the bridge will provide a form of economic stimulus to the city”, so I definitely agree with Ansel’s point about the federal government (or other sources) funding the repairs and providing now jobless people with some work.
This incident reminds me of something similar and on a larger scale that happened back in 2021, when a massive container ship got stuck in the Suez Canal and billions of dollars worth of goods on other container ships trying to get past it (but couldn't because it was so big) were stuck for 6 days. This ultimately had a ton of bad economic consequences (big delays, transit fees, livestock that were being carried on the ships had increased fatality rate, etc). Incidents like these show how prominent the "domino effect" is in economics.
It is very devastating to read that the crew did all they could to try and help, putting down the anchor, alerting others, and steering away, yet they still collided with the bridge. I agree with Leo that it is crazy that with so much technology this can still happen, especially since even the backup generators didn’t help that much. I obviously know it's upsetting that other ships will have to reroute and it will increase the costs of shipping but I think the loss of lives is much worse, and hopefully this encourages other companies to make their ship as safe as possible for the workers on it.
It is devastating to hear of these casualties because this tragedy could have been avoided easily since the ship warned those working on the bridge in advance. I agree with Leo because this incident should have been avoided with the new and improved communication technology, but unfortunately, that wasn't the outcome. What are the following steps to ensure this doesn't happen again? What will happen to those who lost their jobs due to this unfortunate event?
Events like these are genuinely my worst nightmare, and I feel so much sadness for all those affected by this horrendous tragedy. I fully believe all those affected as well as their families. The six construction workers on the bridge (who are all now presumed dead), should never have died, and this, truly, never should have happened. I feel like there should have been things to prevent this. I watched a video of the event, was there seriously nothing that could have happened? Whoever was operating the ship must have realized a few minutes before they crashed in that something was wrong, and the ship was clearly pointed towards the bridge. They could have called the police and asked them to immediately clear everyone off the bridge. I seriously think this 100% could have been prevented.
I believe the company that owns the ship involved in the incident should be actively working alongside the government to help find new jobs for those who lost theirs due to the accident, and also contribute to covering the damages to the bridge. An interesting point from a New York Times article mentioned that this company has a history of labor violations, including underpaying staff and keeping crew onboard for extended periods. While these issues aren't directly connected to the recent incident, they do shed light on the company's practices and raise serious questions about their legality and ethics in operating. These repeated issues suggest a pattern of behavior that goes beyond a single incident, potentially indicating deeper systemic problems within the company. Also, its kind of interesting to see how quickly the world forgot that this happened.
President Joe Biden's proposal to fund the rebuilding of the bridge using federal funds demonstrates recognition of the importance of infrastructure investment and the role of government in addressing transportation challenges. But while infrastructure repair is essential, support for affected individuals is equally important to ensure that the economic burden of the closure is distributed fairly and equitably. As efforts are made to rebuild the bridge and restore port operations, government support and assistance can play a crucial role in mitigating the economic impact and facilitating recovery for those impacted.
I wonder why the blackout happened? Was it random or due to some human error? The crew seemed to do as much as they could, as this very unfortunate situation couldn’t really be stopped once the boat lost power. This tragedy is a sign that there should be more fail safes in place for navigation and communication regarding ships, as well as more effective ways to steer without power. The company which made the ship should be motivated and responsible to improve its technology to prevent further incidents like this. It's very unfortunate for the port of Baltimore to receive all the aftermath from the bridge falling, especially as it affects such a vast area of trade for the city.
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