The news said after the ship made a mayday call the construction workers were able to shut down traffic.

Equipment is en route already.
I suspect channel will be open within 90 days.

Anyone know the state of the tide when it was coming down river?

That can add or subtract depending but whatever the state the vessel needs to be making headway to maintain control. Otherwise you're just going where the water takes you.

By time of year that river should have the max water coming down so there's current.

If it’s intertidal they would probably time their departure to work with the tides, which are fairly big right now due to a full moon. Pilot would be on the bridge and hopefully the helmsman understands English. Crew on watch should all be on standby at stations prepared for such emergencies as loss of power and/or steering. Perhaps River Birch will chime in here-he would have some good insight

warrior, it is intertidal there, last hour of ebb tide so 1 to 2 kts I expect.



Definitely had a Chesapeake Bay pilot and maybe a harbor pilot as well. Ship crew may or may not understand English but must have an interpreter on board to relay commands.

A distracted bay pilot let one ship run hard aground just outside the river couple years ago, took months to get it off.

What everybody misses is the wind effect on a ship pilied up with containers....they act like a sail...no rudder response and you go where the wind and tide take you.

p.s. My brother is on one of the rescue boats that responded. He called me at O'Dark 30 on his way in to work to let me know.

Low tide was 0200, so.shouldnt have been much.
I saw calculation of force of a 3 mph wind, perpindicular, on Square footage of that ship/ sea cans, and perpendicular,
But reported wind was about 0.

Looks like they dropped starboard anchor right before.

Coast Guard inspects foreign ships for safety. The Captain of the Port and the ships agent surely have records of inspections.

Foreign ship? Cripple the nation from the inside before you go to war.

Thank you very much!

MTA cops were on the ball!
2 min from call to stopping traffic, one officer was waiting for relief to head back and get work crew off.

Somebody's Boss is gonna be whizzed!

How far is the nearest bridge traffic can use as an alternate route?

I heard that someone that lives near the bridge would take 45 minutes longer to get to the next bridge /tunnels.

Both of their insights^^^

I would say that is probably a conservative figure. East coast traffic is a nightmare even without a disaster like this.

Bridge was used, heavily, by Hazmats.
Can't go.in tunnels.

I wouldn't know as I avoid that entire craphole area. Last time I was there I went under it while on the R/V Aquarius with Martin O'Berry as Captn.

The current from the tide is probably the main factor.