Bridge Support News

We are at the one-year since the Francis Scott Key (FSK) Bridge collapsed over the Patapsco River’s Fort McHenry Channel in Baltimore, Maryland. Nearly 100 percent of the wreckage and debris removal was conducted by the Jones Act private sector U.S. maritime industry. The FSK collapsed at about 1:28 a.m. local time on March 26, 2025 after the container ship MV DALI lost power and collided with one of bridge’s support piers. Six construction workers died in the collapse, while two other workers survived the fall into the freezing water.

It’s already possible to have smart decision support on the bridge: With Furuno’s technology, live video imagery of the front view from the vessel has navigation information superimposed on it including heading, AIS data, radar target tracking, object identification, route waypoint and chart information.SEA.AI’s bridge support system can identify larger vessels not fitted with AIS up to a range of 7.5 kilometers (nearly five miles), smaller vessels up to 3 kilometers (nearly 2…

Ten weeks after the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, salvage crews successfully removed the final large steel truss segment blocking the 700-foot-wide Fort McHenry Federal Channel on June 3-4.Using concrete breakers, underwater surveys, and oxyacetylene torches, they separated tons of concrete roadway, cable, and steel rebar from "Section 4C" while removing debris with clamshell dredges.On May 20, Unified Command had cleared the Federal Channel to a width of 400 feet and a depth of 50 feet, allowing deep-draft commercial vessels to access the Port of Baltimore.

The refloat and transit of the M/V Dali from its current location to a local marine terminal is slated for early Monday morning.Optimum conditions call for the transit of the M/V Dali to commence at high tide, predicted to be Monday at 5:24 a.m. The vessel will be prepared at 2 a.m., allowing the M/V Dali to catch the peak high tide for a controlled transit.The entire refloat sequence (prior to high-tide transit) is estimated to begin roughly 18 hours beforehand, starting midday…

Unified Command officials continue to evaluate the M/V Dali in preparation for refloating the vessel and clearing the channel.Officials have evaluated sonar and lidar imagery but are awaiting results from a dive survey before proceeding with plans to refloat and move the Dali to Seagirt Marine Terminal in the Port of Baltimore.The diver inspection is a necessary step in the complicated process of reopening the Fort McHenry Federal Channel in a manner that mitigates risk to the…

U.S. crews in Baltimore set off controlled explosions on Monday to allow them to remove a portion of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge from the bow of the massive container ship that toppled the span in March.The detonations were meant to break the bridge's truss into small sections, enabling salvage crews to use cranes and barges to haul away the twisted metal wreckage, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said. The work, originally planned for Sunday, was delayed because of weather conditions.The U.S.

U.S. crews in Baltimore plan to set off controlled explosions on Monday to allow them to remove a portion of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge from the bow of the massive container ship that toppled the span in March.The detonations will break the bridge's truss into small sections, enabling salvage crews to use cranes and barges to haul away the twisted metal wreckage, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said. The work had been planned for Sunday but it was delayed because of weather conditions.Afterwards…

The FBI said on Monday it opened a criminal probe into the collapse of a Baltimore bridge in March when a ship crashed into a bridge support, while local officials confirmed the recovery of a fourth body from the incident.FBI agents boarded the cargo ship Dali to conduct court-authorized law enforcement activity regarding the crash, an FBI spokesperson said. The spokesperson said there was no other public information available and the bureau will have no further comment.The body…

U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced more than $703 million to fund 41 projects in 22 states and one territory that designed to help improve port facilities through the Maritime Administration’s Port Infrastructure Development Program. Following is the full list of FY 2022 Port Infrastructure Development Grant Awards:ALASKANorth Extension Stabilization Step 1 Project ($68,700,000), Anchorage, AlaskaThe Project will reconfigure and realign the shoreline within the “North Extension” (the area north of the existing general cargo terminals) at the Port of Alaska in Anchorage, Alaska.

The Eldfisk 2/7 S topside leaves Kvaerner's yard at Stord today after being completed in April as planned, on time and to the specified quality. In March 2011 Kvaerner signed a contract with ConocoPhillips to deliver the topside for the Eldfisk 2/7 S integrated production platform. The topside was completed in April 2014 as planned, and will be towed to field in the North Sea today. The Eldfisk 2/7 S topside consists of one combined living quarter and utility module and a combined process and wellhead module, with a total weight of 15,500 tons.

US Coast Guard's unified command is dealing with a crude oil spill from a damaged barge in Vicksburg, Miss. The barge had earlier been damaged through contact with a bridge support while in tow, and the Mississippi River remains closed to all traffic for a 16-mile distance between mile marker 425 and mile marker 441 near Vicksburg. Currently there are 21 northbound and 34 southbound vessels affected due to the river closure. A lightering and salvage plan has been approved by the unified command and multiple response crews have been dispatched to begin removing oil from the barge.

ConocoPhillips confirms options in the Eldfisk 2/7 S topside contract for Kvaerner to perform offshore hook-up & commissioning assistance. In March 2011, Kvaerner was awarded a contract by ConocoPhillips to perform engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the topside for the Eldfisk 2/7 S platform in the North Sea, with an estimated contract value of NOK 5.5 billion. ConocoPhillips has now confirmed options in the contract to perform offshore hook-up and commissioning assistance, which will add approximately NOK 400 million to the contract value. The topside consists of one combined living quarter and utility module and a combined process and wellhead module, with a total weight of 15,500 tons.

Efforts by ConocoPhillips to achieve the lightest weight possible for the superstructure of its Ekofisk L accommodation facility have been demonstrated by its selection of an underlay construction material. The oil major has selected Boliscreed 400 for the high-profile North Sea unit, which will replace the longstanding Ekofisk H and Ekofisk Q as part of ConocoPhillips plans to prolong activities in the Ekofisk field by up to 40 years. Ekofisk L’s top side is currently under construction at Singapore’s Sembawang (SMOE) shipyard…

Conductor Installation Services Ltd (CIS), an Acteon company, announced that it has completed a pile-driving operation in conjunction with construction of a major gas production and processing development in Australasia. Working in the jungle, CIS performed a series of pile-driving operations in order to form the foundations of three new bridges, a jetty and two wharves. The CIS hammer services crew of four commenced the first phase of the pile-driving operation, which was associated with construction of two wharves on a river.

Worldwide sales of SAM Electronics and L-3 Valmarine’s latest NACOS Platinum series of integrated navigation and automation systems now exceed 130 following commissioning of configurations for Carnival Cruise Lines’ new 130,000-gt liner, Carnival Breeze, under construction by Fincantieri, and two 143,500-gt cruiseships being built at Meyer Werft’s Papenburg yard for NCL. Due for delivery in 2013 and 2014, the NCL vessels will be the largest to be built in Germany. The third in Carnival’s Dream class and due for delivery next spring…

On May 31st 2011 FLAGSHIP, a part EU-funded maritime transport project, will conclude having facilitated the research and development of no less than 10 new maritime solutions, from multiple European companies. All the new products and systems directly and indirectly improve the safety, environmental friendliness and competitiveness of European maritime transport – in precise alignment with the FLAGSHIP programme’s objectives. Mr Emanuele Grimaldi, CEO of the Grimaldi Group, commented…

FLAGSHIP, the pan-European maritime transport project part funded by the EU, has improved Integrated Bridge Systems with advanced functions for further integration of nautical information. Called FLAGSHIP-Bridge Support these functions provide the officer of the watch with improved navigation information. They integrate NAVTEX messages, radar and AIS targets into a single coherent display, speeding up hazard analysis, improving tracking accuracy and reducing the load on the Duty Officer.

Tideland Signal has supplied a package of navigational warning systems for the Ekofisk complex in the North Sea to replace redundant older systems and to interface with earlier Tideland equipment which has been in service for some 25 years. Production at Ekofisk began in 1971 but today the operative parts of the complex consist of bridge-linked accommodation, production, well head, drilling and processing facilities. The original Tideland equipment protects the northern end of the complex…

The National Transportation Safety Board determined on Feb. 18 that a medically unfit pilot, an ineffective master, and poor communications between the two were the cause of an accident in which the Cosco Busan container ship spilled thousands of gallons of fuel oil into the San Francisco Bay after striking a bridge support tower. On November 7, 2007, at about 8:00 a.m. PST, in heavy fog with visibility of less than a quarter mile, the Hong Kong- registered, 901 ft container ship M/V Cosco Busan left its berth in the Port of Oakland destined for South Korea. The San Francisco Bay pilot, who was attempting to navigate the ship between the Delta and Echo support towers of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge…