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Date: 2025-07-02 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00026545
Baltimore Bridge Collapse
Chief Mardi analysis ... ship engineer perspective
Chief MAKOi ... What caused the power failur
Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxeKXjDVqMA
Peter Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess
Description What caused the Power Failure : The Dali Incident In this episode, I do a bit of Incident Investigation and Root Cause Analysis to find out what could have caused the blackout onboard M/V Dali, which led to the collapse of the Key Bridge in Baltimore. Chief MAKOi Seaman Vlog Transcript
  • 0:35
  • two to four billion
  • 0:39
  • dollar by now I'm pretty sure a lot of
  • 0:42
  • you have already watched various videos
  • 0:45
  • commentaries and reactions about this
  • 0:47
  • incident we have seen footage of the
  • 0:50
  • ship moments before it hit the bridge we
  • 0:54
  • already know that a blackout occurred
  • 0:56
  • which led to the loss of propulsion I'm
  • 0:59
  • pretty sure a lot of you have been
  • 1:01
  • wondering as to what could have caused
  • 1:03
  • this failure which in turn cascaded into
  • 1:07
  • this catastrophy we'll dive into that
  • 1:09
  • but before we do just a disclaimer the
  • 1:12
  • actual sequence of events in the engine
  • 1:14
  • room has not yet been made public we
  • 1:17
  • only saw a bit of the timeline from what
  • 1:20
  • was recovered from The Voyage data
  • 1:22
  • recorder so I'll Analyze This based only
  • 1:26
  • on what I see from this footage and I'll
  • 1:29
  • try to to make sense of it based on my
  • 1:31
  • knowledge and experience as a chief
  • 1:33
  • Marine engineer it's just like doing an
  • 1:36
  • incident investigation and root CA
  • 1:38
  • analysis which we as the onboard
  • 1:41
  • management team typically do whenever
  • 1:43
  • incidents happen on board let's take a
  • 1:46
  • look at the CCTV footage and check out
  • 1:48
  • the timestamp so we can analyze the
  • 1:51
  • sequence of events so here we can see
  • 1:54
  • the vessel as it was approaching the
  • 1:57
  • bridge as per the video's Tim stamp the
  • 2:00
  • blackout occurred at 32 seconds past
  • 2:04
  • 124 there's a slight difference in the
  • 2:08
  • time between the footage and the
  • 2:09
  • transcription from the vdr so if I
  • 2:13
  • happen to mention a different time from
  • 2:15
  • what is shown on the
  • 2:17
  • CCTV that just means I'm referring to a
  • 2:20
  • different Source anyway when a blackout
  • 2:22
  • occurs on board a ship all of the
  • 2:25
  • Machinery stops inside the engine room
  • 2:28
  • the noise quickly dice down except for
  • 2:31
  • the very loud and sometimes Panic
  • 2:34
  • inducing audible alarms which will be
  • 2:37
  • persistent for about a minute or so
  • 2:40
  • because all the systems will be detected
  • 2:42
  • as
  • 2:49
  • [Music]
  • 2:51
  • abnormal also the engine room will
  • 2:54
  • suddenly go dark now as a ship's
  • 2:57
  • engineer those are the two things things
  • 3:00
  • that you don't want in the engine room
  • 3:02
  • especially during maneuvering darkness
  • 3:05
  • and silence because that means the ship
  • 3:09
  • is dead on the water whenever I'm on
  • 3:12
  • board a ship when I'm sleeping I
  • 3:14
  • actually get awakened if it suddenly
  • 3:16
  • becomes quiet the noise and vibration
  • 3:19
  • from the running engines are actually
  • 3:21
  • the normal
  • 3:23
  • background Now isn't there a backup
  • 3:26
  • generator or something well yes but it's
  • 3:29
  • a little bit more complicated than that
  • 3:32
  • first I need to explain a little bit
  • 3:34
  • about the Marine power plant so
  • 3:36
  • basically we have the main engine which
  • 3:39
  • is the huge engine that provides
  • 3:41
  • propulsion power in short it's the
  • 3:43
  • engine that spins the propeller and
  • 3:46
  • causes the ship to
  • 3:48
  • move now the thing is the main engine
  • 3:51
  • requires multiple auxiliary Machinery to
  • 3:54
  • be running like fuel pumps Lu boil pumps
  • 3:57
  • cooling water pumps and others
  • 4:00
  • before it can be operated and those
  • 4:03
  • pumps those systems they need
  • 4:06
  • electricity to function for that we have
  • 4:09
  • the generator engines which provide
  • 4:11
  • electricity to the entire ship for the
  • 4:14
  • purpose of this video I'll refer to them
  • 4:16
  • as the big generators typically there
  • 4:19
  • are three generator engines on board but
  • 4:22
  • for a container ship of this size it
  • 4:25
  • probably even has four I'm not sure for
  • 4:28
  • this ship but what's for sure is that
  • 4:31
  • the total electrical load requirement of
  • 4:33
  • the entire ship can be easily handled by
  • 4:36
  • at least two generators with one extra
  • 4:40
  • generator on standby ready to take over
  • 4:43
  • in case of failure so there is usually
  • 4:47
  • no shortage of redundancies when it
  • 4:50
  • comes to electric power and then there
  • 4:53
  • is the emergency generator it
  • 4:55
  • automatically starts in case of a
  • 4:58
  • blackout Sola requires it to
  • 5:01
  • automatically start within 45 seconds of
  • 5:04
  • a power failure it is located outside of
  • 5:07
  • the engine room and has its own fuel
  • 5:09
  • tank however it is driven by a smaller
  • 5:12
  • engine and it's dedicated to provide
  • 5:15
  • Power to only a select group of
  • 5:17
  • machinery and lighting all of which are
  • 5:19
  • powered through the emergency
  • 5:22
  • switchboard which automatically
  • 5:24
  • disconnects from the main switchboard in
  • 5:27
  • case of a blackout now the equipment
  • 5:30
  • connected to the emergency switchboard
  • 5:32
  • served the purpose of restarting the
  • 5:34
  • bigger generators maintaining the
  • 5:37
  • operation of radar and navigation
  • 5:39
  • equipment emergency and navigation
  • 5:42
  • lights and of course
  • 5:45
  • firefighting the emergency generator
  • 5:47
  • doesn't generate enough power to restart
  • 5:51
  • the main engine and restore
  • 5:54
  • propulsion however it provides power to
  • 5:57
  • the ship's steering gear yes once the
  • 6:01
  • emergency generator kicks in the ship
  • 6:04
  • should be able to use the rudder you
  • 6:06
  • know to steer the ship but more on that
  • 6:10
  • later and then there are also a few
  • 6:13
  • batteries which automatically connect to
  • 6:15
  • the radios and other small Emergency
  • 6:18
  • Equipment a few battery operated lights
  • 6:22
  • as well as ups for computer-based
  • 6:25
  • devices like the Eis okay so now that we
  • 6:29
  • have the basic idea of a marine power
  • 6:32
  • plant let's look at the footage again as
  • 6:35
  • we have seen earlier the black out
  • 6:38
  • occurred at 32 seconds past
  • 6:41
  • 124 so as I mentioned the emergency
  • 6:45
  • generator should kick in within 45
  • 6:47
  • seconds as per Sola
  • 6:50
  • requirements here we see the electric
  • 6:52
  • power was restored at 31 seconds past
  • 6:57
  • 125 that's
  • 7:00
  • 59
  • 7:01
  • seconds wait a minute does that mean the
  • 7:04
  • emergency generator did not run and
  • 7:07
  • automatically connect on time well there
  • 7:11
  • were signs that it didn't go online
  • 7:14
  • within the required time if you look
  • 7:16
  • closely for the entire duration that the
  • 7:19
  • lights were out the nav lights were also
  • 7:22
  • out and they never came on until all the
  • 7:26
  • other lights went
  • 7:27
  • on the navigation lights are powered
  • 7:30
  • through the emergency switchboard which
  • 7:33
  • is supposed to be powered by the
  • 7:35
  • emergency generator during blackouts
  • 7:38
  • also according to the initial transcript
  • 7:40
  • of the timeline the vdr stopped
  • 7:42
  • recording the ship's data except for the
  • 7:45
  • audio in the Wheelhouse it resumed a
  • 7:48
  • little over a minute later those are
  • 7:50
  • telltale signs that even the emergency
  • 7:53
  • power didn't kick in within 45 seconds
  • 7:57
  • what we're seeing here when the lights
  • 7:59
  • came back on was probably just the
  • 8:01
  • emergency generators I might be wrong
  • 8:05
  • but I'm very familiar with the sequence
  • 8:07
  • when restoring power after a blackout so
  • 8:10
  • I say there's a big chance that that's
  • 8:13
  • the case however it's also possible that
  • 8:16
  • they managed to you know restart the big
  • 8:19
  • generators and put them on load that
  • 8:22
  • could also happen even without waiting
  • 8:24
  • for the Emergency generator to kick in
  • 8:26
  • anyway a few seconds later after the
  • 8:28
  • lights came back on you can see black
  • 8:30
  • smoke coming out from the stack
  • 8:33
  • initially I thought this was from the
  • 8:35
  • main engine I thought they were trying
  • 8:38
  • to do crash estern Maneuvers and the
  • 8:40
  • black smoke was the result of U poor
  • 8:44
  • fuel to a ratio because they canceled
  • 8:47
  • the load limits of the main engine you
  • 8:48
  • know to to quickly increase the
  • 8:51
  • speed however it was only 13 seconds
  • 8:55
  • after the lights went on H
  • 9:00
  • I doubt they managed to restart the main
  • 9:02
  • engine that fast there are a lot of
  • 9:05
  • things to reset before the main engine
  • 9:07
  • can be ready for operation well it's not
  • 9:11
  • impossible but I seriously doubt they
  • 9:14
  • were able to it's more likely that the
  • 9:17
  • black smoke was coming from the big
  • 9:21
  • generators anyway assuming they were
  • 9:24
  • able to start the big generators and put
  • 9:26
  • them on load this means they should have
  • 9:29
  • had the capability to restart the main
  • 9:32
  • engine the problem is at a speed of
  • 9:35
  • around 8 knots it is very likely that
  • 9:38
  • the propeller was still spinning in the
  • 9:40
  • ahead Direction due to momentum running
  • 9:43
  • the main engine in crash as turn
  • 9:45
  • direction would be a bit tricky and
  • 9:48
  • there will definitely be a few start
  • 9:50
  • failures uh before they get the engine
  • 9:53
  • running it's a matter of technique but
  • 9:55
  • I've done it many times uh as part of
  • 9:58
  • testing procedure years prior to the
  • 10:01
  • ship entering
  • 10:02
  • Port it should work as long as there's
  • 10:05
  • nothing wrong with your main engine or
  • 10:08
  • fuel however if we look at the AIS
  • 10:11
  • tracking I don't think they were able to
  • 10:13
  • run the main engine at all here's
  • 10:17
  • why by this time the steering gear
  • 10:21
  • should be functional even if they were
  • 10:24
  • still in emergency power mode one of the
  • 10:27
  • steering gear Motors would have already
  • 10:30
  • been functioning because it's connected
  • 10:32
  • to the emergency switchboard we can also
  • 10:35
  • see from the vdr timeline transcription
  • 10:37
  • that various Rudder commands were given
  • 10:39
  • by the pilot at around this time so that
  • 10:42
  • means uh the rudder was responding to
  • 10:46
  • the helm commands Okay so the steering
  • 10:49
  • gear was working at this time
  • 10:52
  • however assuming they had use of the
  • 10:56
  • rud why didn't the ship turn to safety
  • 11:00
  • this kind of confirms that they weren't
  • 11:02
  • able to restart the main
  • 11:04
  • engine because without propulsion power
  • 11:07
  • the rudder won't be able to turn a ship
  • 11:11
  • of this size
  • 11:13
  • effectively to explain it simply the
  • 11:16
  • rudder makes the ship turn by deflecting
  • 11:20
  • the water stream generated by the
  • 11:23
  • propeller the force of that deflection
  • 11:26
  • creates a turning moment or torque
  • 11:29
  • around the ship's center of gravity so
  • 11:32
  • that in combination with inertia causes
  • 11:35
  • the ship to begin turning in the
  • 11:38
  • direction determined by the rudder
  • 11:40
  • position the fact that they weren't able
  • 11:42
  • to turn the ship is an indication that
  • 11:45
  • there was no propulsion so why was there
  • 11:49
  • black smoke coming from the stack where
  • 11:52
  • did it come from since the smoke
  • 11:55
  • appeared around 13 seconds after the
  • 11:58
  • lights went on
  • 11:59
  • we can presume that it came from the big
  • 12:02
  • generators I'm ruling out the auxiliary
  • 12:05
  • boiler automatically firing in this case
  • 12:08
  • because it takes about a minute of pre
  • 12:10
  • purging before it could fire presumably
  • 12:13
  • they were trying to restore the main
  • 12:15
  • electrical power which is logical
  • 12:18
  • because that's the the only way for them
  • 12:20
  • to be able to restart the main engine
  • 12:22
  • but normally there shouldn't be any
  • 12:24
  • black smoke in US Waters ships are
  • 12:28
  • required to use LS smgo or low sulfur
  • 12:31
  • marine gas oil so it's relatively
  • 12:34
  • cleaner compared to the black stuff that
  • 12:37
  • we normally use when the ship is out in
  • 12:40
  • the open sea and even when ships use
  • 12:43
  • heavy
  • 12:44
  • fuel there still isn't supposed to be
  • 12:46
  • any black smoke under normal operating
  • 12:49
  • conditions so why was there black
  • 12:53
  • smoke this could possibly be one of the
  • 12:56
  • clues in finding out the root cause of
  • 12:59
  • the blackout whenever ships are
  • 13:02
  • maneuvering into or out of ports two
  • 13:05
  • generators are usually in service and at
  • 13:08
  • least one is on standby typically one
  • 13:12
  • generator is capable of handling the
  • 13:14
  • Essential Electric loads needed to
  • 13:17
  • operate the main engine but for safety
  • 13:20
  • two of them are put on service to ensure
  • 13:23
  • that there is more than enough power
  • 13:26
  • available and that blackouts won't occur
  • 13:29
  • while
  • 13:30
  • maneuvering so in case one of the
  • 13:32
  • inservice generator trips the one on
  • 13:35
  • standby should be able to start and take
  • 13:39
  • over but in case it doesn't the
  • 13:43
  • preferential trip will be activated on
  • 13:46
  • the main switchboard this will shut down
  • 13:48
  • the non-essential Machinery you know the
  • 13:52
  • ones not needed for maneuvering like
  • 13:54
  • refrigeration and air conditioning
  • 13:57
  • purifiers blowers and various other
  • 14:00
  • Machinery so this preferential trip
  • 14:03
  • should be able to reduce the load enough
  • 14:06
  • that one generator is more than
  • 14:08
  • sufficient to maneuver the ship now for
  • 14:12
  • a ship to go on Blackout while two
  • 14:14
  • generators are running means they both
  • 14:17
  • malfunctioned at the same time or almost
  • 14:20
  • the same time the two most probable
  • 14:23
  • reasons for this to happen are either
  • 14:26
  • fuel related or switchboard related
  • 14:29
  • either reason may explain why the
  • 14:31
  • standby generator didn't automatically
  • 14:34
  • start and take on load a switchboard
  • 14:37
  • malfunction although possible is quite
  • 14:41
  • improbable for this it is still possible
  • 14:44
  • though but it will involve a bit of well
  • 14:48
  • a lot of malfunctioning parts or even
  • 14:51
  • human
  • 14:52
  • intervention like someone doing
  • 14:55
  • electrical repairs on the main
  • 14:57
  • switchboard which is a little little bit
  • 14:59
  • Unthinkable while the ship is
  • 15:01
  • maneuvering I'm not ruling that out
  • 15:04
  • though it's bad practice but I've seen
  • 15:06
  • it happened before it could explain why
  • 15:09
  • they weren't able to bring the
  • 15:10
  • generators back on load but it can't
  • 15:14
  • explain the black smoke now the fuel
  • 15:18
  • related reason seems to be more
  • 15:21
  • plausible in this case simply put the
  • 15:24
  • fuel supply was suddenly cut off I don't
  • 15:29
  • think it would be something like clogged
  • 15:31
  • filters because that would happen
  • 15:34
  • gradually and there are numerous fail
  • 15:37
  • saves for that and it is easy enough to
  • 15:40
  • rectify a sudden stoppage of the fuel
  • 15:43
  • supply would explain why both generators
  • 15:46
  • would shut down at the same time as they
  • 15:48
  • share a common fuel line and also
  • 15:51
  • prevent the standby generator from
  • 15:54
  • starting automatically but since the
  • 15:57
  • ship was presumably using LSN MGO they
  • 16:00
  • might have been using the small flushing
  • 16:02
  • pump instead of the dedicated fuel oil
  • 16:05
  • booster pumps for the generators the
  • 16:08
  • small pumps might not have had given
  • 16:10
  • enough pressure you know to sustain the
  • 16:13
  • load on the generators or maybe someone
  • 16:17
  • mistakenly closed a valve or
  • 16:20
  • accidentally activated the quick closing
  • 16:23
  • valves or maybe even forgot to refill
  • 16:26
  • the fuel tank it could happen I've
  • 16:29
  • actually seen that before there are many
  • 16:31
  • Mayes but the thing is at some point the
  • 16:34
  • fuel supply got cut off however a simple
  • 16:39
  • closed valve is easy enough to rectify
  • 16:43
  • and it shouldn't have been difficult you
  • 16:46
  • know to restart everything from there
  • 16:49
  • now there's also the angle of
  • 16:51
  • contaminated fuel yes that could also
  • 16:55
  • happen in fact the black smoke seems to
  • 16:59
  • be an indication that this might have
  • 17:00
  • been the case there's a possibility that
  • 17:04
  • they change over to a different tank
  • 17:06
  • which had bad fuel or contaminated fuel
  • 17:10
  • which could have caused the generators
  • 17:11
  • to stop at the same time or and this one
  • 17:15
  • is a bit
  • 17:16
  • controversial they tried to change over
  • 17:19
  • to heavy fuel oil too early and
  • 17:22
  • something went
  • 17:23
  • wrong that could also explain why the
  • 17:26
  • standby generator didn't start and why
  • 17:29
  • there was black smoke afterward now we
  • 17:32
  • can't know for sure what specifically
  • 17:34
  • costed it and I'm not accusing anybody
  • 17:37
  • of doing anything I'm just trying to
  • 17:40
  • make sense of things because this could
  • 17:43
  • happen to any sea fa farer it could
  • 17:46
  • happen to me
  • 17:48
  • anyway at around
  • 17:51
  • 0126 the pilot called for tugs in the
  • 17:53
  • vicinity through VHF now looking at the
  • 17:57
  • footage after over 1 minute since the
  • 18:00
  • light went on it went dark again but
  • 18:04
  • strangely enough the navigation lights
  • 18:07
  • didn't go out this time this might have
  • 18:10
  • been an attempt to put the big
  • 18:12
  • generators on load although black smoke
  • 18:15
  • was still coming out of the stack again
  • 18:17
  • this is not normal as it indicates a
  • 18:20
  • poor fuel to air Ratio or incomplete
  • 18:23
  • combustion so it's really strange since
  • 18:27
  • prior to the black
  • 18:29
  • out there was no black smoke so at this
  • 18:33
  • point the pilot gave the order to drop
  • 18:35
  • the port anchor since the ship was not
  • 18:37
  • responding to the rudder movements as we
  • 18:39
  • can see it didn't have much
  • 18:43
  • effect at around 25 seconds after
  • 18:47
  • 127 the pilot issued a radio call
  • 18:50
  • through VHF reporting that the vessel
  • 18:53
  • had lost all power approaching the
  • 18:56
  • keybridge so since the Lights Went out
  • 18:59
  • again we are assuming that even the
  • 19:01
  • emergency generator was for some reason
  • 19:05
  • disconnected that means they don't have
  • 19:07
  • any Rudder control anymore because
  • 19:09
  • there's no electricity supplying the
  • 19:12
  • steering gear
  • 19:13
  • Motors anyway after about 30 seconds the
  • 19:18
  • lights went on again looking at the
  • 19:20
  • vessel tracking the ship barely lost any
  • 19:23
  • speed and was already veering to
  • 19:26
  • starboard at this point Collision was
  • 19:30
  • imminent at first I actually thought the
  • 19:32
  • main engine was running a Stern at this
  • 19:35
  • point because the ship suddenly turned
  • 19:37
  • to starboard this phenomenon is known as
  • 19:41
  • propeller walk and the ship turned to
  • 19:43
  • starboard because it had a right-handed
  • 19:47
  • propeller but of course after a thorough
  • 19:49
  • review of the footage we know by now
  • 19:52
  • that they weren't able to restart the
  • 19:54
  • main engine which brought us to this
  • 19:57
  • fateful moment
  • 19:59
  • at around 129 the container ship Dolly
  • 20:02
  • collided with a key bridge at a speed of
  • 20:05
  • around seven knots which caused the
  • 20:09
  • bridge to
  • 20:17
  • collapse after a major incident like
  • 20:20
  • this we can easily assume that the crew
  • 20:23
  • morale is very low the captain being the
  • 20:27
  • overall in command of the ship is
  • 20:29
  • definitely in a very stressful situation
  • 20:32
  • but since the immediate cause was a
  • 20:35
  • blackout the chief engineer would be up
  • 20:38
  • to his neck in crap and probably feeling
  • 20:41
  • depressed right now you see even if they
  • 20:44
  • were not the ones directly responsible
  • 20:47
  • for anything it's command
  • 20:50
  • responsibility unless there's undeniable
  • 20:52
  • evidence that someone else did something
  • 20:55
  • wrong the captain will always be in the
  • 20:58
  • spot Spotlight if it's engine related
  • 21:01
  • then the chief engineer will be too both
  • 21:04
  • of them will spend the next few months
  • 21:06
  • writing up statements explaining what
  • 21:09
  • happened how it happened why it happened
  • 21:12
  • and who did it presumably they will be
  • 21:15
  • brought to court so that's another
  • 21:18
  • gloomy prospect that they won't be glad
  • 21:21
  • to look forward to looking at this
  • 21:24
  • tragic incident we can expect that the
  • 21:26
  • reaction of ship owners with be to send
  • 21:29
  • their crew for additional training but
  • 21:32
  • the thing is there are already training
  • 21:35
  • courses using simulators that address
  • 21:39
  • this particular scenario in fact I used
  • 21:42
  • to handle the engine side of those
  • 21:45
  • scenarios back when I was teaching in
  • 21:47
  • Maritime training centers to be honest
  • 21:50
  • what happened in Baltimore is almost
  • 21:53
  • exactly what happens every time we run
  • 21:56
  • those simulations where in a blackout
  • 21:59
  • occurs in an area with heavy traffic it
  • 22:03
  • almost always ends up in a collision
  • 22:06
  • it's basically Kobayashi Maru a no win
  • 22:09
  • scenario but without Captain Kirk
  • 22:12
  • cheating because realistically if
  • 22:14
  • something like that happens there won't
  • 22:17
  • always be enough time to reset all the
  • 22:20
  • systems and restore power and propulsion
  • 22:23
  • our technology just isn't there yet the
  • 22:26
  • best we could do is to train the crew
  • 22:29
  • to retain their presence of mind and try
  • 22:33
  • to minimize the damage by acting
  • 22:35
  • promptly when faced with a similar
  • 22:38
  • situation could they have done things
  • 22:40
  • differently to avoid a catastrophic
  • 22:42
  • outcome maybe if the port regulations
  • 22:46
  • required tug assistance all the way out
  • 22:48
  • of the harbor would that have made a
  • 22:50
  • difference definitely but could have
  • 22:55
  • would have should have one thing is for
  • 22:58
  • sure though prevention is better than a
  • 23:01
  • cure no matter how much we want to spend
  • 23:04
  • this we cannot deny that there were
  • 23:07
  • lapses on board the ship I know it's a
  • 23:10
  • hard pill to swallow but it is what it
  • 23:13
  • is sometimes even if you have been very
  • 23:16
  • meticulous in your work things have a
  • 23:19
  • way of going wrong there will be times
  • 23:23
  • when you will find yourself between a
  • 23:25
  • rock and a hard place and the choices
  • 23:28
  • that you make will determine if you'll
  • 23:31
  • come out of it
  • 23:33
  • unscathed or not come out at
  • 23:36
  • all thank you for watching and see you
  • 23:39
  • on the next
  • 23:45
  • one
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