On March 26, 2024, at 1:29 a.m. a ship called the Dali hit several key columns on the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Two months have passed since and now we can examine the government response and the long-term impacts of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse.
This disaster killed six construction workers who were working on the bridge at the time. The port will be closed for the foreseeable future as the government cleans up the bridge and starts rebuilding it. An estimate by Morningstar DBRS said that the total insured losses because of this could be between $2 and $4 billion. This would make it the most expensive insured maritime disaster since 2012.
The economic activity in the area will be slowed significantly until businesses adapt, which will result in a major loss of profit. However, the ports in the area are not considered major worldwide ports, so the economic impact is more localized.
— Mr. James, Government and Civics teacher
While this crash was and will continue to be expensive, exactly who will pay the costs is up for debate. For most businesses in the area, they will either have to swallow the cost or get their insurance to pay part of it. Families of the construction workers who died are expected to sue the company that owned the Dali. Ultimately, it will come down to whether a federal court decides that the accident was due to negligence in which case they will be forced to pay money to the relatives.
Business teacher, Mr. Coble, echoed the same beliefs saying:
“It depends. It really depends whether it was an accident or a technical error. If it was something they could have prevented then yes. If there is evidence that there was something wrong but they still went ahead and continued using the ship then they would be at fault. This is more in the realm of the Business law class that I am teaching next year. It’s like a textbook example.”
The Federal Government has pledged to pay most of the cost towards rebuilding the bridge.
When asked if families should get compensation Ana Lopez del Cid, a 10th grader at Gateway, said,“Yes I do, if there was a malfunction at the boat it is because of something. People have died here and the families deserve compensation for their loss.”
One belief about the cause of the accident is that it was a coordinated terrorist attack. It’s important to note that the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, is investigating the crash and has said that it was not terrorism so this belief is just speculation. Former Department of Justice national security prosecutor, Joseph Moreno, said:
“While the Biden administration has ruled out publicly the Dali crash was a terrorist attack, you have to assume the FBI and the Coast Guard will be looking at whether this was some form of sabotage. While we are not aware of anyone taking responsibility for the collision, there is always the possibility it was intentional.” – Joseph Moreno
Yeah [the governments] have to try to rebuild as quickly as possible, for national security. We don’t want [terrorists] to see that they can devastate our economy and destroy major infrastructure for five, ten years. We need to show them that we can respond and rebuild quickly.
— Mr. Joyce
The FBI is not the only government agency investigating the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board, NTSB, is also investigating it, although they are more focused on the safety issues that could have caused it rather than if it was intentional. The NTSB is investigating potential safety failures and safety measures to make the bridge safer.
In the interview with Mr. Coble, he expressed concerns about government overreach on this subject, saying that engineers should be able to fix the problems without new laws or regulations. However, an investigation to figure out what went wrong would be beneficial as it would help people engineer a solution.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse was horrible for everyone involved. From families losing loved ones to businesses losing billions of dollars, it’s very clear why it is called a disaster.
The Baltimore area will take years to recover financially as the bridge is being rebuilt, and new regulations and standards are expected to come out of this. Hopefully, everyone can come out the other side safer and ready to prevent something like this from happening again.
