Baltimore: Similar incidents in China and Argentina and the SOS of experts

Its shocking collapse in The bridge that was cut in two in southern China. Damage to a bridge in Argentina. Three incidents occurred in the first three months of 2024, according to his report. All three are involved large merchant ships, which collided on the bridges. These incidents with an account of at least five dead in China and six in Baltimore highlight the urgent need to control and shield the old bridges so that they can serve the vast container transport ships without risks. “We must remember that this bridge was built 50 years ago and ships at the time were a fraction of what Dali is today,” Sal Mercogliano, a shipping expert on the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, told CNN. “And Dali is not even a large container ship, there are much larger ships out there,” he said and added: “So in many respects we have infrastructure built for another era,” he explained. The incidents in China and Argentina Similar events in China and Argentina have alarmed experts broadcasting SOS for bridge safety that do not meet today’s needs. The incident in China took place in late February, when a cargo ship fell on the Lixinsha Bridge in the Pearl River Delta, in the southern province of Guangzu- an important international maritime hub and industrial heart of the country. Dramatic photographs showed the bridge cut in half. State broadcaster CCTV said aid operations on the bridge due to structural concerns had been postponed several times in recent years. A month earlier, a large cargo ship struck the Zárate–Brazo Largo bridges crossing the Prana River in Argentina, according to the government news agency Télam, causing serious damage to the ship and the bridge, but which did not collapse. Although on paper these incidents may seem similar – since in all cases a large ship falls on a bridge – the factors that led to accidents may differ significantly, explains Bassem O. Andrawes, a professor of structural engineering at the University of Illinois and an expert on collapsed bridges. For example, the incident in China seems to show the ship hitting the body of the bridge, not its pillars – the vertical columns that hold the structure up – which indicates that “the ship had a certain height that was ignored”. “This may be due to human error,” explains the professor. Preliminary investigations into the collision also suggest that the accident was caused by “inappropriate behavior of the ship’s crew”, according to the state agency China Daily. Instead, in Baltimore’s example, the channel and bridge are wide enough and high enough to accommodate large vessels and the cargo ship hit the bridge pillar, not the bridge itself, he stressed. “There are different causes for all these cases,” he added. “But there is now more awareness that there is a possibility, and it is not a small possibility but a very large, a vessel to hit part of the bridge – whether it is the pier or the superstructure”. When the vessels hit the pillar, it can be “destructive”, because this is the weakest point on the bridge. It also marked the 1980 collapse of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Florida after a hit by a truck, killing 35 people. This incident prompted the engineering and transport community to “really examine how to design piers that could withstand this,” he said. Auditive for better infrastructure The last incident with the collapse of the bridge in Baltimore brought to the fore the urgent need for better infrastructure. Additional structures such as bumpers can be added to bridges, under water and away from the visual field, diverting ships approaching very close. Many ports and waterways use “drins” – structures that have their roots in the bottom or bed of the river, stretching over water, usually made of wood or steel. Although often used as a docking point, they can also protect bridges from being struck by ships – with the Sunshine Skyway bridge being a typical example. Bassem O. Andrawes added that bridges should be built with additional protective devices in their design – so that when an element collapses, others can withstand the load. Experts point out, however, that there is also a long way to improve bridges built for smaller vessels at another time, even with modern regulations and design codes. Although newer bridges – especially those crossing large rivers – may have additional protective structures, bridges on smaller channels or less developed countries may not have. “Infrastructure investment is crucial for the public good and it is vital to address these aging infrastructure,” said Jerome Hajjar, president of the Institute for Structural Engineering of the American Civil Engineering Society. In addition to improving the old bridges for modern requirements, infrastructure must be upgraded to keep pace with the latest progress in technology, he added. Information from CNN