DEEP IMPACT

Cargo Ship Dali Hit Baltimore Bridge With Force of a Rocket Launch: NYT

Experts disagreed on whether any bridge would withstand an impact of that magnitude.

The cargo ship Dali struck Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge on Tuesday with a level of force comparable to that of a rocket launch, an analysis by The New York Times found. Preliminary estimates put the force of the impact between 12 million newtons on the low end—one-third of the power to launch Saturn V of the Apollo missions—and 100 million newtons on the high end. The reason is the Dali’s enormous mass: Although it was moving slower than a leisurely bicyclist, its mass is between one-third and one-half of that of the Empire State Building, which allowed it to strike the Key Bridge with leviathan force at low speed. Experts disagreed on whether any bridge would withstand an impact of that magnitude. A University of Maryland professor estimated 95 to 99 percent of all bridges would fail after a similar strike, while a University of Michigan professor said a bridge designed to current standards might survive. The Key Bridge, at 47 years old, was designed under different standards when cargo ships were much smaller.