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I suppose "not hitting bridges" is part of the fundamentals But it's really curious how it seems those collisions have been becoming more frequent (or only our

I suppose "not hitting bridges" is part of the fundamentals But it's really curious how it seems those collisions have been becoming more frequent (or only our awareness of it?) Another alternative is "the sort" working better than ever which means that maritime employment in some places does not attract the best professionals

defrost 1y ago
To be fair "can this ship clear this bridge given it's height, the time of day, the general broad area tidal conditions and the specific hyper local variations" is fundemental but far from basic. It also raises a question as to whether the fault lies with the ship crew or with a local pilot who had local control of the ship.
- usrusr 1y ago
  On the videos the ship is drifting backwards, from wind and/or currents (are currents the East River dominated by tides?). I don't think that they ever intended to clear the bridge. The fundamental they missed was keeping their maneuvering engine up and running (or calling in some tugs).
  - detourdog 1y ago
    Yes, the East river and the Hudson are both tidal estuaries. The tide has a big effect on water flow direction. I'm an in-experienced sailor but I was surprised they left with the water flowing against them.
    - sklargh 1y ago
      Had similar thoughts. Hell Gate is no joke.
  - defrost 1y ago
    Damn. My bad for getting the full details .. I came to this story via a chain of bridge clearance fail stories and jumped to the assumption this was another intended passage clearance mistake. There are some knuckle chewing engineering videos of planned water transits of "big loads" timed happen for a still water king low tide .. fast work with tiny clearances and major downsides on failure.
  - a2tech 1y ago
    If you watch the video you can see tugs moving the boat. Current speculation is that the tugs/harbor captain messed up and the ship got away from them in the tide and drifted backwards into the bridge.
    - Polizeiposaune 1y ago
      Tugs were nearby; one had helped it back away from the pier it had been docked at, but none were hooked up at the time of the collision. Sal Mercogliano — a maritime historian at Campbell University - saw indications that the ship's engine may have been stuck in reverse. See video edited from his livestream here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2p9bYfFhHE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2p9bYfFhHE
- krisoft 1y ago
  It is not a case of not knowing that the bridge is too low. It is a case of not being able to avoid it and being pushed into it by winds and waves. Reportedly something went wrong with their engine.
crooked-v 1y ago
With the case of the US Navy and the well-publicized collisions with civilian vessels, it's happening more because the organization is trying to run more ships and more constant operations with fewer people than are actually required. And that's on top of scheduling practices that are fundamentally negligent and dysfunctional to start with, like watch standers (whose job is to watch for and react to dangers to the ship) trying to perform duty shifts on 4 hours of sleep a night for months at a time.
- hulitu 1y ago
  > because the organization is trying to run more ships and more constant operations with fewer people than are actually required Greed and AI will replace all workers. /s

defrost 1y ago

To be fair "can this ship clear this bridge given it's height, the time of day, the general broad area tidal conditions and the specific hyper local variations" is fundemental but far from basic. It also raises a question as to whether the fault lies with the ship crew or with a local pilot who had local control of the ship.

usrusr 1y ago
On the videos the ship is drifting backwards, from wind and/or currents (are currents the East River dominated by tides?). I don't think that they ever intended to clear the bridge. The fundamental they missed was keeping their maneuvering engine up and running (or calling in some tugs).
- detourdog 1y ago
  Yes, the East river and the Hudson are both tidal estuaries. The tide has a big effect on water flow direction. I'm an in-experienced sailor but I was surprised they left with the water flowing against them.
  - sklargh 1y ago
    Had similar thoughts. Hell Gate is no joke.
- defrost 1y ago
  Damn. My bad for getting the full details .. I came to this story via a chain of bridge clearance fail stories and jumped to the assumption this was another intended passage clearance mistake. There are some knuckle chewing engineering videos of planned water transits of "big loads" timed happen for a still water king low tide .. fast work with tiny clearances and major downsides on failure.
- a2tech 1y ago
  If you watch the video you can see tugs moving the boat. Current speculation is that the tugs/harbor captain messed up and the ship got away from them in the tide and drifted backwards into the bridge.
  - Polizeiposaune 1y ago
    Tugs were nearby; one had helped it back away from the pier it had been docked at, but none were hooked up at the time of the collision. Sal Mercogliano — a maritime historian at Campbell University - saw indications that the ship's engine may have been stuck in reverse. See video edited from his livestream here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2p9bYfFhHE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2p9bYfFhHE
krisoft 1y ago
It is not a case of not knowing that the bridge is too low. It is a case of not being able to avoid it and being pushed into it by winds and waves. Reportedly something went wrong with their engine.

crooked-v 1y ago

With the case of the US Navy and the well-publicized collisions with civilian vessels, it's happening more because the organization is trying to run more ships and more constant operations with fewer people than are actually required. And that's on top of scheduling practices that are fundamentally negligent and dysfunctional to start with, like watch standers (whose job is to watch for and react to dangers to the ship) trying to perform duty shifts on 4 hours of sleep a night for months at a time.

hulitu 1y ago
> because the organization is trying to run more ships and more constant operations with fewer people than are actually required Greed and AI will replace all workers. /s