chengkp75

If you look at the photos of the Dali, you'll see that the bridge structure is about 1/3 back from the bow. Lots of container ships combine the engine room structure (and funnel) with the accommodation block and the bridge, to minimize the lost cargo space, but having the bridge aft increases the "blind spot" ahead of the ship, from looking over the container stacks, to somewhere close to half a mile or so. So larger ships are now moving the bridge to where the Dali's is. But whether the bridge is forward or aft, makes no difference to the height of the mast, which is the controlling factor. Ships like this must have two "mast head lights" both visible all around and vertically spaced so they can be seen one above the other from a distance, so even if you reduced the height of container stacks forward of the bridge, and then lowered the bridge to just see over, the after mast height still has to be higher than the container stacks aft.

Air drafts for ships are notoriously hard to find, but I would think a ship like Dali would have one about 170 feet. That would be about the maximum for the Key bridge.

Cruise ships are mostly air, and cargo ships consider air to be wasted volume. If you add a 10' high deck to a cruise ship, it will settle in the water maybe 2-3 inches, while if you add a 10' high layer of loaded containers to the top of a container ship, it will settle in a foot or more.

Cruise ships are a very small part of the $80 billion that the Port of Baltimore generates. And, from what I understand, many of the plans to "replace" the Bay Bridge are not to replace it at all, but to add additional lanes by building another bridge parallel to the two existing bridges, so making that bridge higher still will not solve the problem for cruise ships.

While heating a pool is not a health hazard, most ships only heat pools to about 75*F (24*C), unless they are intended to be a heated (therapy) pool.

Considering that ACL's new riverboats run about $40 million each, these were obtained at fire sale prices, and that they feel they will need massive investments to operate them to their standards.

While there is a "central" HVAC system that is not controlled by the cabin thermostat, the thermostat does control the cabin recirculation AC. The key slot controls a "set back" thermostat that raises the set temperature 5 or 10 degrees when there is no card in the slot. The lights that stay powered with no card in the slot, are the emergency lights in the cabin.

While not for RCI, part of my job was ADA compliance with NCL. There will be one and only one "relief station" on the ship, it will be used by any and all service dogs onboard. You are not allowed to leave the service animal unattended in the cabin for any time, and you won't be able to "hire" a crew member to watch him. Access on the pool deck is generally unlimited, but as you know, no entry into the pool. The "relief station" will be outside, in passenger areas.

Placement of the support piers also depends on the depth that bedrock is below the river bottom

No, US Army Corps of Engineers

I think it will be a case of removing some bridge and then some containers and then some more bridge, and so on. It will require some hands-on rigging, but likely having one crane with a personnel basket and one crane to lift the container. The rigger will be harnessed to the basket, but will have to walk on the containers not only to connect the other crane's lines but to also unlock the fittings that hold the containers to each other.

Yes, they are starting to cut and remove the north side span (outside the main channel) to allow shallow draft barges and vessels to get around to the Dali. And, yes, dredging will be used to clear the small debris, but that takes time.

The steel is only one part of the problem, there is all the pavement that has broken up and is littering the channel bottom.

Thanks, yes. I've personally known of 3 US pilots being killed.

The actual statistic is that pilots have a 1 in 20 chance of dying on the job. 2 to 3 pilots worldwide are killed on the job annually. Working from my phone, so not smart enough to provide the link, but it is from Business Insider, quoting a book by Christopher Mims, if you want to look it up. Try to remember that cruise ships make up about 5% of world shipping, so there are thousands, if not tens of thousands, of pilot boardings every day all around the world. The same article states that between 2007 and 2021 8 harbor pilots just in the US have died.

I think it's a SOLAS requirement. Though my internet is limited right now, and can't find the cite

Never seen a windlass that didn't have a manual brake handwheel even on a remote hydraulic brake.

Longer stroke means a slower rotation of the crankshaft. The fixed piston rod, crosshead, and connecting rod removes the side loading that a "trunk" piston takes from the angularity of the connecting rod, so the piston does not need a long "skirt" (the part of the piston below the wrist pin) to keep it aligned with the cylinder. A smaller bore also better ensures complete combustion across the piston face, even when the engine uses two fuel injectors.

That is a two stroke, medium speed, trunk piston engine, like nearly every cruise ship has, and that Dali has for generators. The main engine is a "slow speed" "crosshead" 2 stroke engine as per this: Sorry, didn't watch the video all the way through to see it covers crosshead engines. Also, all the "roots blower" (or engine driven blower) does not apply, as all are turbocharged. Note in the drawing above, that each yellow platform on the side is a full story high.

Yes, the ILA handles the mooring lines as well. Members sign up for what types of work they want to do, whether cargo handling, cruise ships, or ling gangs. I believe it's every month that they can change what they want as their assignments. Line gangs for any ship are 6 men, plus any in boats that may be needed to handle lines that go to dolphins or are very long over water. Most cargo ships are lucky if 3 of the 6 show up to actually work, but you pay for the whole gang.

As noted to your post in the RCI forum, the Chesapeake Bay bridge is also 185', so unless they want to replace that bridge as well, raising the Key bridge will do nothing.

As noted previously, the Chesapeake Bay bridge, further down the bay towards the sea is the same height as the Key bridge, so raising the Key bridge won't do anything unless they want to replace the Bay bridge as well.

Yes, never said they weren't. Just that one diesel engine can produce far more energy than the 6 engines on Oasis, that everyone thinks are massive.

I find the comments extremely humorous. One suggests getting a heavy lift semi-submersible from Rotterdam (it makes 10 knots, tops, and would take 2 weeks just to get here). Another thinks that cutting the bow off the Dali is the way to start the salvage operation. SMH, ROFLMAO

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