Tyler Durden
ZeroHedgeSun, 07 Apr 2024 14:36 UTC
Screenshot
A massive container ship reportedly lost power on the Upper New York Bay - just before the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge connecting the New York City boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn.
According to
Captain John Konrad, CEO of gCaptain, a New York City tugboat captain informed him that the 354-meter container ship APL QINGDAO "lost power while transiting New York harbor.""They had 3 escort tugs but 3 more were needed to bring her under control. They regained power & were brought to anchor near the verrazano bridge," the tugboat captain told Konrad.
Konrad said the vessel is registered in Malta and is owned and operated by a major French shipping company.
He did note, "We are still waiting for confirmation on the incident."
Adding validity to Konrad's report, the vessel's AIS tracking data shows it abruptly dropped anchor late Friday night - just before the 13,700-foot suspension bridge. As of Sunday morning,
the vessel's navigational status is "anchored."The incident c
omes nearly two weeks after a container ship lost power and collapsed the 1.6-mile-long Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, paralyzing the Port of Baltimore.
Source: Bloomberg"While the Verrazzano shares some characteristics with the Key Bridge, there are also important differences," an opinion piece in the
Wall Street Journal recently read, adding:
"First, its massive vertical supports are positioned much closer to land than the Key Bridge's — 1,000 feet away from the harbor's navigation channel — making them considerably less likely to be hit by an errant vessel. The towers also are surrounded by rock islands, which would force any ship heading toward the supports to run aground before striking the tower. Additional safety projects have further hardened protections, even adding an air gap sensor system that detects vertical clearances between the bridge and large vessels passing underneath."
The collapse of the Baltimore bridge has sparked discussions in corporate media about America's vulnerable infrastructure. Within government, high-level officials are likely concerned about terrorists crippling the nation through a series of infrastructure attacks. Maybe it's time the US government vet all foreign crews of commercial vessels entering America's waters...
Comment: See:
Barge slams into bridge in Oklahoma; cruise ship crashes into wall in AustriaThe
Daily Mail reports:
A Virgin Atlantic 787 has collided with a British Airways Airbus A350 while pushing back from the terminal building at Heathrow airport causing minor damage to both aircraft.
The Virgin jet was being guided by a tug when its winglets struck the tail of the neighbouring BA jet.
Emergency services raced to the scene following the low-speed impact.
A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said: 'We are aware that the wingtip of one of our empty aircraft came into contact with another aircraft whilst being towed from the stand at London Heathrow Terminal 3.
The Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787 struck the British Airways Airbus A350 as it was being pushed back from the terminal building at Heathrow Airport
'We've commenced a full and thorough investigation and our engineering teams are performing maintenance checks on the aircraft, which for now has been taken out of service.'
One Twitter user, Alex Whittles wrote: 'Just witnessed a plane crash at Heathrow!
'A tug pushing back a Virgin 787, crashed the wing into a BA A350.'
The British Airways jet had recently arrived in London from Accra, Ghana and was due to depart on the return journey at 12.40pm from Gate 25 at Terminal 3.
It's departure has been pushed back to 6.30pm, according to Heathrow Airport's departure board.
BA said it has provided an alternative aircraft to 'limit the impact on our customers'.
A spokesperson said: 'One of our aircraft, whilst stationary at Heathrow earlier today, was involved in a collision with another airline's jet, which was being towed from a stand at the time.
'Our aircraft is being assessed by our engineering teams and we have provided an alternative aircraft to limit the impact on our customers.'
A Heathrow spokesperson said: 'We are working alongside emergency services and our airline partners in response to an incident involving two aircraft on the ground earlier today.
'At present, no passenger injuries have been reported and we do not anticipate there to be any ongoing impact to airport operations.'
Luggage handlers were operating in the area of the British Airways jet when the impact occurred.
At least five fire engines attended the scene in case there was any fuel leaks or possible fire. A host of other airport security officials secured the scene.
Virgin confirmed it had launched an investigation in a statement earlier today.
Investigators will want to know if there were sufficient personnel involved in the push back from the terminal building, and how the Virgin jet was able to strike the horizontal stabiliser of the British Airways jet.
It is understood Virgin Atlantic's flying programme has not been disrupted by the incident.
The tow movement was provided by a ground handling company under contract by Virgin Atlantic.
British Airways told MailOnline: 'One of our aircraft, whilst stationary at Heathrow earlier today, was involved in a collision with another airline's jet, which was being towed from a stand at the time.
'Our aircraft is being assessed by our engineering teams and we have provided an alternative aircraft to limit the impact on our customers.'
Back in January there were 2 rare incidents at Japanese airports, and which had much more deadly consequences:
Japan sees another 'rare' airport incident when 2 planes collide on Hokkaido runway, 2nd incident in just 2 weeksSee also:
Denmark fires defence chief, withdraws frigate from Red Sea operation, over ship's dangerous 'technical issues'
While the Western industry prouds itself with it's "complex and highly optimised" industrial production, procurement and transportation system, the downsides became pretty obvious lately.
Not only is the Western industry not capable of managing real demand surges, as the artillery shell and AD missile issue with the Ukraine and Israel show.
Maintainance is generally kept to a minimum as well, as it generates no revenues. The level is usually just high enough to keep profit losses and compensation claims at a tolerable level. Undereducated and trained crews at low wages and high workload are rather the norm than the exception. That would explain the shipping issue ... Now that sounds very much like a totally incompetent diversity hire.
The bad thing is, you find those in the cockpits now as well ...