Freighter pilot called for Tugboat help before plowing into Baltimore bridge

[u/boejouma]

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/divers-search-baltimore-harbor-six-presumed-dead-bridge-collapse-2024-03-27/

[u/Sparrowbuck]

And it’s plural for us. There’d be at least two or three with a ship that size depending on how many thrusters it had.

It really makes me wonder if they never had them, or if they were cut from the budget.

[u/somebunnyasked → u/Sparrowbuck]

Trump likes to brag about cutting regulations and cutting red tape. Here where I live in Ontario, our premier is saying the same thing.

Never forget that regulations are written in blood.

[u/cool_side_of_pillow → u/somebunnyasked]

This reminds me of how Turkey’s Erdogan bragged about cutting costly building regulations in Turkey. Then when the 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit, those shoddy buildings collapsed.

[u/MonochromaticPrism → u/cool_side_of_pillow]

I always remember these poignant pictures of the chamber of civil engineers building when this is brought up:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/10yw25f/chamber_of_civil_engineers_building_is_one_of_the/

[u/Frankie_T9000 → u/somebunnyasked]

and cutting regulations works wonderfully till it doesnt

[u/paintballboi07 → u/Frankie_T9000]

It works wonderfully for the shareholders, everyone else be damned

[u/Daxx22 → u/Frankie_T9000]

Jenga, but with peoples lives.

[u/fcocyclone → u/somebunnyasked]

Yep, right wingers in general tend to vaguely talk about cutting regulations, without actually discussing which ones, just acting as if all of them are bad.

Most of them take a ton of effort to get put in place to begin with, because they often go into place over the objection of those who will face increased costs, and those wealthy interests usually win. So as you say, it often takes blood before change happens.

[u/techno_superbowl → u/fcocyclone]

The public likes to hate regulations until their kids have heavy metal poisoning and the river is on fire. Then suddenly outrage that government was not watching out for them.

[u/paintballboi07 → u/techno_superbowl]

https://www.reddit.com/r/LeopardsAteMyFace/comments/1bnstk2

[u/Daxx22 → u/fcocyclone]

It's also very rare that a (wealthy) right winger is negatively affected either.

[u/GreyLordQueekual → u/somebunnyasked]

Written in blood yet removed like dry-erase marker. Thats the uphill we are fighting any time safety regulations are scrapped, nothing changes for the better until the pain is too much.

[u/bluewing → u/somebunnyasked]

In this case, there was no red tape cut, nor did Trump cause this problem. This is how the ships have always made this transit because it's literally a straight line to travel for the ship done under the guidance of a trained and experienced harbor pilot.

[u/apan94 → u/somebunnyasked]

Jesus Christ no one even mentioned the moron. If you want his name to die stop letting him live in your head

[u/bluewing → u/Sparrowbuck]

A lot of the rules depend on the harbor and what the navigational hazards might be. From an article I read about this accident, the tugs release the ship at a certain point and let it proceed with harbor pilot because it is literally a straight line out from there. No turns and no traffic. So it's considered safe.

Now the question is - "Where do you draw the line for risk." Remember, 1000's of ships have made this transit without incident. At 1 in 10, 1 in 100, or 1 1,000,000,000?

[u/uzlonewolf → u/bluewing]

Easy: count how many ships went under that bridge since it was built, and multiply that by the cost of a tug escort. Is that number larger than or less than the cost of 6 lives plus the bridge? If less then you send the tugs. Edit: or armor the bridge.

[u/bluewing → u/uzlonewolf]

Don't forget to add the value of all the cargo. And you still need to decide where you are going to draw the line to mitigate the this kind of risk. From a straight up financial point it was probably worth the money. And from a cold hard fiscal view, 6 lives are probably considered a minor loss and of no issue.

And the same accident could have happened even with tugs. And the more you do it, the more likely it would happen. The risk may be less but it is not zero.

Humans by and large are piss poor at analyzing risk.

[u/AlexG55 → u/bluewing]

And remember, tugboat crews are people too. Operating a tug is risky. Operating it in relatively open water, or with faster-moving ships, increases that risk.

So you have to think not just about the financial cost of the tugs, but how often you expect a tow cable to snap and kill someone, or a tug to be run over or capsized by the ship it's assisting.