Americas News
NTSB All But Rules Out Bad Bunker Fuel as Cause of Dali Collision with Baltimore Bridge
Bad bunker fuel has been all but ruled out as a factor behind the collision of container ship Dali and the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.
A preliminary report released Tuesday by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigating the incident found Dali did suffer multiple losses of power (LOP) incidents before striking the Bridge, but that "test results did not identify any concerns related to the quality of the fuel."
Following the incident that took place on March 26, 2024 there has been considerable speculation that the ship had lost power due to poor quality fuel.
As Ship & Bunker previously reported, investigators said they were considering bunker contamination as cause.
While the NTSB preliminary report does not draw any final conclusions as to the cause of the incident, that will come in a final report that may take years to complete, at this stage it appears faulty fuel was not a factor.
"The last time the Dali crew switched fuel was on the evening of March 21, 5 days before the accident, when they switched to burning LSMGO in all engines upon entering US territorial waters (12 miles off the Atlantic coast), as required by emission regulatory requirements," the report states.
"The Dali took on various amounts of all three types of fuel in Newark, New Jersey, on March 19 after the month-long trip from Sri Lanka. Fuel-sample analysis results indicated that the LSMGO fuel bunkered in Newark, which was the same type of fuel in use during the accident events, complied with international standards and regulations. The test results did not identify any concerns related to the quality of the fuel.
"On March 28, the owner took samples of the LSMGO that was being burned at the time of the accident. At NTSB direction, the owner transferred the samples to an independent laboratory. The test results did not identify any concerns related to the quality of the fuel.
"On April 11, additional fuel samples were taken from all fuel tanks and various fuel supply manifolds on board the vessel; samples were tested by an independent lab. Fuel-sample analysis results indicated that the LSMGO fuel being burned at the time of the accident complied with international standards and regulations. The test results did not identify any concerns related to the quality of the fuel."
Power Outages
The NTSB report notes that Dali experienced four power outages prior to the collision, the first two occurring at berth about 10 hours before leaving Baltimore.
The report attributes the first to an error by a crew member while working on the exhaust scrubber system, who mistakenly closed an inline engine exhaust damper causing the engine to stall.
Crew members took action to rectify the issue and restored power, but insufficient fuel pressure caused electrical breakers to open resulting in a second blackout.
While recovering from the second blackout, the crew switched its electrical system to a configuration that used two breakers known as HR1 and LR1.
The first vessel blackout after departure on March 26 occurred when the HR1 and LR1 breakers opened unexpectedly, resulting in a loss of power to all shipboard lighting and most equipment, including the main engine cooling water pumps and steering gear pumps.
The loss of electrical power to the pumps resulted in the main engine being automatically shut down, and the vessel lost main propulsion.
The crew were able to restore power by manually closing breakers HR1 and LR1 and at this point the senior pilot also ordered an anchor drop.
However, when the ship was 0.2 miles from the bridge, other electrical breakers opened and a second electrical blackout occurred.
While some systems remained online, the main engine remained shut down and there was no propulsion to assist with steering.
Shortly after this Dali collided with the bridge.
A crewmember told investigators that as he was releasing the brake on the port anchor, he had to escape from falling bridge before he was able to reapply the brake.
Due to ongoing salvage efforts, the amount of anchor chain paid out is still unknown.
