I worked on the water in and out of Baltimore since I was 16. Watched them build that bridge while I was in Junior High school, and would hang out at Fort McHenry after school. I've been over and under it more often than I can count, the last time under it was in October 2023. The boat is my friend Mark's, who's a tug boat captain in Baltimore harbor; one of the tugs that assisted the Dali off her berth in fact, though he was ashore, off-duty at the time. He's on the scene in his tug now as I type this.
Another pic is passing under the bridge while leaving Baltimore on Gazela Primeiro in 1978. (I don't know who's picture it is, I was on the boat at the time) The bridge opened in March 1977.
There's been talk about ship-strike protection around the base of the piers as long as I can remember. After it was bumped by a ship in 1980 (?) and especially after the Sunshine bridge collapse in Tampa Bay that same year; yet, no protection was ever added to it, or to the double span of the Chesapeake Bay bridges further south which another potential disaster. There have only been 4 dolphins since it was built, and the Dali didn't touch the one before the pier she hit. The scuttlebutt on the subject came up again when the Ever Forward grounded in Chesapeake.
There will probably be some sort of procedure implemented to have tugs stay with ships - with a line on - till they clear the (new) bridge, coming and going, and/or a speed limit while approaching the bridge (she got up to 8.7 knots based on tracking data).Tugs typically meet incoming ships outside or at the bridge and escort them in, but seldom follow them out when leaving.
I'm really glad my friend was off-duty when it happened, because I've already seen the Dunning-Kruger crowd try to lay blame on the tugs "leaving early."
