New information indicates that the cargo ship that collided with the Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore overnight was piloted by a specialized crew trained to avoid obstacles at ports.
The ship, a 948-foot-long DALI operated by Singaporean company Synergy Group, collided with the 1.2-mile bridge shortly after 1:26 am as it departed the Port of Baltimore.
During a Tuesday morning press conference, Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld announced that none of the 22 crew members appeared to have been injured. He also disclosed that the cargo ship was under the guidance of specialist pilots at the time of the incident.
“Pilots move ships in and out of the Port of Baltimore,” he said at a press conference, noting that the specialist pilots depart the ships as soon as they are in open water.
Authorities promptly dismissed the catastrophe as intentional or terrorist-related. An initial report from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) indicated that the container ship experienced a “loss of propulsion” while departing from port.
“The vessel notified MD Department of Transportation (MDOT) that they had lost control of the vessel and an allision with the bridge was possible,” the report said. “The vessel struck the bridge causing a complete collapse.”
According to a CNN review of records from the Electronic Quality Shipping Information System (Equasis), the Dali container ship underwent 27 inspections since 2015, during which it was noted to have two “deficiencies.”
Notably, this included a June 2023 inspection in San Antonio, Chile, where a deficiency was found in the “propulsion and auxiliary machinery” – with propulsion faults also noted in the early CISA report.
The Dali was also involved in a 2016 incident at the Port of Antwerp. A review in November of that year in Antwerp, Belgium found another “deficiency” in its “structural conditions.”
No deficiencies were found when the vessel was last inspected on September 9, 2023, by the US Coast Guard in New York.
All operations at the Port of Baltimore, a key trade hub in North America, have come to a standstill.
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