Could a bridge collapse happen in Savannah or Brunswick? Georgia Ports leaders weigh in

After turning on or scanning the news this morning, some Brunswick, Georgia, residents may have shuddered at the image of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsing after being hit by the cargo ship, Dali.

Fifty-two years ago, on the night of Richard Nixon’s landslide re-election, the SS African Neptune cargo ship crashed into the Sidney Lanier Bridge just after 10 p.m. Ten cars and 24 people plunged into the Brunswick River, among them a toddler-aged brother and sister who died along with eight other people. The bridge was struck again by a Polish freighter in 1987.

The current 7,780-foot-long cable-stay bridge built to replace the old vertical-lift one opened in 2003 with extra safety measures, according to Tom Boyd, chief communications officer for the Georgia Ports Authority. More than two acres of rock surround its two stanchions, limiting the possibility of another vessel strike, Boyd said.

The Key Bridge, according to the Civil Engineering Almanac, is a 1.6-mile continuous steel-arched truss bridge built in 1977 over the Patapsco River. According to vesselfinder.com, the cargo ship that hit the bridge, the Dali, is a 9-year-old cargo ship measuring 300 meters long and weighing 95,000 tons, which would be considered a big ship for the East Coast, said Griff Lynch, President and CEO of the Georgia Ports Authority.

The Dali was departing the Port of Baltimore just before 1:30 a.m. The Associated Press has confirmed that the ship issued a mayday call and lost power before it barreled into one of the Key Bridge’s support columns.

Lynch worked at the Port of Baltimore during his career, so the news of the accident came to him as a “terrible tragedy.”

“I saw that this five o'clock this morning,” he said. “I just could not believe it. I mean, I saw that video and I just was like, ‘That is unreal.’”

Could a Baltimore-type tragedy happen in Savannah or Brunswick?

Both Lynch and Boyd spoke of the safety measures around the Port of Savannah, where the Talmadge Memorial Bridge spans the Savannah River between Georgia and South Carolina. It is a cable-stayed bridge, like the Lanier in Brunswick. The Talmadge’s southside stanchion is firmly planted in the Ocean Terminal and in Hutchinson Island on the north.

According to Boyd, there are no bridge support columns within the river that a vessel could hit. And the way cargo ships are brought into and out of Savannah provides additional safety. Savannah River port pilots that guide cargo ships handle approximately 45 ships a week, said Boyd, adding that they assisted more than 2,000 ships in 2023.

“Equally important, whenever there is a first-time vessel called into the port, they do that only during the day,” said Boyd.

Tug operators take a great deal of precaution moving vessels, said Lynch, explaining that two to three tugboats accompany ships as they come into the harbor. “So, as you go under the bridge, there’s three tugs surrounding that vessel.”

“This tragic incident [in Baltimore] sheds light on the future consideration of a tunnel underneath the Savannah River,” offered Boyd about the future of port operations in Savannah.

Lynch echoed the preference for a tunnel as a long-term solution because of its lack of obstructions. But, that decision, ultimately will be in the hand of the Georgia Department of Transportation, said Lynch, predicting that if a tunnel were to be constructed, it wouldn’t be online until the mid-2030s. Meanwhile, cable maintenance on the bridge will raise its profile, and the ports are optimistic funding for a study to widen and, once again, deepen the river is forthcoming from Congress.

With the Port of Baltimore closed into the near future, the ports in Savannah and Brunswick may experience more traffic to alleviate any disruptions in the supply chain, mostly in the way of ro-ro cargo, such as automobiles. Both the Ocean Terminal in Savannah and the Port of Brunswick could be put into play, said Lynch.

Amy Paige Condon is a content coach and editor at the Savannah Morning News. You can reach her at ACondon@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Georgia Ports measures to prevent vessel collisions, bridge collapses