The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
‘WE’RE A DEAD SHIP’
It’s no rarity: Hundreds of cargo vessels have lost propulsion in U.S. waters in recent years.
Less than two weeks after Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge was destroyed by an out-of-control cargo ship, another huge container ship passed beneath a busy bridge connecting New York and New Jersey and then suddenly decelerated in a narrow artery of one of the nation’s largest ports.
“We’re a dead ship,” said a voice over the maritime radio a short time later, invoking an industry term that often refers to a ship that is unable to move on it own.
Three tug boats helped shepherd the APL Qingdao — a vessel more than 1,100 feet long and flying under the flag of Malta — from where it lost propulsion near the Bayonne Bridge to a safe location, authorities said. The ship dropped anchor just upstream from the even busier Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, which carries about 200,000 vehicles per day.
The April 5 incident is one of hundreds in which massive cargo ships lost propulsion, many near bridges and ports, according to a Washington Post analysis of Coast Guard records.
The findings indicate that the kind of failure that preceded the March 26 Baltimore bridge collapse — the 984-foot Dali is believed to have lost the ability to propel itself forward as it suffered a more widespread power outage — was far from a one-off among the increasingly large cargo ships that routinely sail close to critical infrastructure.
Around Baltimore alone, ships lost propulsion nearly two dozen times in the three years before the tragedy last month, the Post review found — including a November 2021 incident in which a 981foot container ship lost propulsion for 15 minutes soon after it passed under the Key Bridge. In 2020, a ship the same size as the Dali lost propulsion “in the vicinity of the Bay Bridge” near Annapolis, records show.
Adding to the danger, experts say, is a lack of consistent rules on when cargo ships should be escorted by tug boats that can keep them on course even if engines turn off. Although tugboats escorted the Qingdao, as was called for under local guidelines in the New York area, those attending to the Dali departed before it struck the bridge in Baltimore, where such decisions are left to ship captains and local pilots, the specially trained sailors who guide ships in and out of ports.
Container ships like the Dali and the Qingdao have doubled in size over the past two decades, experts said, while some American ports — built up over centuries around busy and cramped waterways — have struggled to adapt.
“I don’t think we’ve understood fully the consequences of these ships, of these large ships, operating in these ports,” said Aaron Davenport, a retired senior Coast Guard officer and an expert in maritime safety.
The Post analysis found that 424 cargo ships longer than 600 feet reported losing propulsion — meaning the engines were shut down — in U.S. waters over the past three years. About a quarter of the incidents occurred near a port, bridge or other infrastructure, the analysis found.
The records on propulsion loss
were up to date through March 17, before the incidents involving the Dali and the Qingdao. After reports of the Qingdao incident surfaced on social media, the Coast Guard said the ship suffered a loss of propulsion.
In some cases reviewed by The Post, engines suddenly cut out. In others, crews were compelled to shut them down to deal with operating problems. The owner and operator of the Qingdao said its engine was shut down in a “controlled” manner after an engine alarm was triggered and that the ship did not lose electrical power.
In Baltimore, a pilots’ association has said the Dali lost engine and electrical power before it hit the Key Bridge on March 26, and National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said investigators believe problems with the electrical system were connected to the loss of control of the ship. The FBI has opened a criminal investigation that will look at least in part at whether the crew left the port knowing the vessel had serious systems problems.
The Coast Guard reports identified several instances of ships striking objects after losing propulsion, including in one case of a grain dock being struck in the Lower Mississippi River. Other vessels were reported to have run aground near infrastructure after losing propulsion.
Coast Guard investigators found many causes for propulsion loss, the records show. In some instances, a total loss of electrical power led to an engine shutdown; in others, the electrical system stayed online, but propulsion was lost because of mechanical and equipment failures. Valves malfunctioned, seals failed, and filters were clogged.
In some cases, poor maintenance or deterioration were blamed for faulty equipment. In others, human error was blamed, including one case in which a ship got underway while an engineer was still doing work on the fuel
Tugboats helped free the Ever Forward ship after it ran aground south of Baltimore in 2022 and was stuck for a month. But there is no standard for using tugboats as guide ships.
system. In dozens of instances, investigators reported that tugboats had assisted ships to safety after they lost propulsion.
‘Our ships are vulnerable’
Ships traveling in U.S. waters are required by federal law to report any loss of propulsion to the nearest Coast Guard command. The Post reviewed hundreds of such reports filed to authorities along the coasts, focusing on those involving ships greater than 600 feet.
While some of the 424 incidents occurred farther from shore in rivers and bays, in 103 instances the ships suffered a loss of propulsion near a port, bridge or other infrastructure, according to the Coast Guard records.
Capt. John Konrad, founder of the shipping news website gCaptain.com,said The Post’s findings were cause for concern.
“Our ports are vulnerable,” said Konrad, who was the first to report on the Qingdao incident in New York. “America has to decide: Do we want to invest in vessel traffic service, stronger bridges, better maritime Coast Guard investigators? Or do we want to roll the dice?”
No uniform standard for tugboat assistance
There is no single standard for the use of tugs to escort large ships in and out of ports in the United States, experts said. Instead, their use is determined by a patchwork of federal and state laws, formal guidelines, long-standing practices, the judgments of individual pilots and the financial incentives of ship owners.
As container ships have become larger, maritime officials in New York and New Jersey have developed standards for managing the arrival into the port operated jointly by the states, issuing guidelines on tides, visibility and the use of tugs.
For vessels 997 feet and longer, the guidelines say, two tugs should be on hand at the Narrows, the stretch of water between Staten
Island and Brooklyn. As many as five tugs can be required for the largest vessels passing through the Kill Van Kull, the tidal strait between Staten Island and Bayonne, N.J.
Federal laws passed since the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill require tug escorts for oil tankers heading into Prince William Sound in Alaska and Puget Sound in Washington state, with a similar state law governing ports in California.
The Maryland Port Administration, which oversees the Baltimore port, and the Virginia Port Authority both said the use of tugs is a decision left to ship captains and to pilots.
Tug escort services cost thousands of dollars an hour, according to rate sheets published by major operators. Experts say some ship owners are reluctant to use them as they look to keep costs down, and that some port authorities oppose tugboat mandates for fear that charging extra fees will make them lose business to competitors.
A ‘dead ship’ reported in the Kill Van Kull strait
The Qingdao arrived in New York on April 2 and, during a three-day stop, unloaded about 40,000 tons of imports, largely from India and Pakistan, ranging from steel pipes to jasmine rice, according to cargo records.
At 7:29 p.m. on April 5, the ship set off from Staten Island’s Howland Hook Marine Terminal, bound for Norfolk, Virginia. It was escorted by three tugboats.
The Qingdao passed under the Bayonne Bridge, connecting New Jersey and Staten Island, at 8 p.m., according to records from the shipping data service Kpler. About nine minutes later, as it moved eastward through the tight Kill Van Kull strait, the ship slowed, eventually to 0.5 knots, or about 0.6 miles per hour.
At 8:17 p.m., tugboats began an operation to assist the Qingdao, Kpler records show.
At 8:20 p.m., a voice on a marine radio channel covering
the area said that the Qingdao was experiencing difficulties. “He has lost propulsion,” the unidentified voice said. “Looks like he might be a dead ship there.” The Post found recordings of the remarks by reviewing marine radio traffic archived by Broadcastify.
Federal regulations define a “dead ship” as one that has lost electrical power and for which backup systems “for bringing the main propulsion into operation” are not available. Other authorities and maritime groups use the term for a vessel that has lost propulsion and steering.
At 8:24 p.m., a different voice came over the radio to say the Qingdao “has lost engine power temporarily, has lost engine power but has regained it back.” This person said the ship was headed for the Stapleton anchorage site near the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, which links Staten Island and Brooklyn.
About 35 minutes later, a third voice on the radio said, “Dead ship, just give me a little bit of time here,” as an alarm seemed to blare in the background, and then a moment later says, “So we’re a dead ship.”
The U.S. Coast Guard said in a statement that the Qingdao reported at about 8:30 p.m. that it had lost propulsion in the Kill Van Kull. “The vessel regained propulsion and was assisted to safely anchor in Stapleton Anchorage … by three towing vessels,” the statement said.
Jennifer Petrisko, a spokesperson for CMA CGM, the French shipping giant that owns the Qingdao, said in emails to The Post that the incident began when the ship’s main engine alarm sounded soon after it departed New York, “restricting full maneuvering.” She did not respond when asked why the alarm activated.
The loss of propulsion was “a controlled, agreed-upon shutdown of the main engine with approval of the pilot and vessel command to temporarily fix an alarm,” Petrisko said. She added that after inspections and tests, the ship was declared seaworthy and was cleared by the Coast Guard to travel to Virginia. Records show that it departed Stapleton around 6 a.m. on April 6.
Qingdao earlier had a problem in Savannah
Records show that the Qingdao also had experienced an engine problem that led to a loss of maneuverability as it left Savannah on July 30.
The Coast Guard found that the crew had replaced fuel injectors with parts not recommended by the engine’s manufacturer and had failed to keep fuel at a proper temperature, according to a summary of the investigation.