Baltimore bridge probe is focused on electrical failure, NTSB chair says

National Transportation Safety Board investigators are focusing on electrical issues on the Dali container ship before it crashed into and destroyed Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge last month, board chair Jennifer Homendy said Wednesday on Capitol Hill.

Homendy said she and other investigators believe there is a connection between the lights going out on the ship, as seen in videos recorded just before the crash, and the vessel heading off course and into the bridge.

“That is where our focus is right now in this investigation,” Homendy said, fielding questions about the tragedy from the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee during a hearing on her renomination.

The committee’s chair, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), opened the hearing with a tribute to the six workers on the bridge who died in the accident. They are “a constant reminder of who’s built our nation,” she said. Cantwell then questioned Homendy about the crash of the Dali, the 985-foot Singapore-flagged container ship that took down the Key Bridge on March 26.

Homendy said investigators are working with Hyundai, which manufactured engine-room equipment used on the ship, to examine the ship’s electrical power system. She said the South Korea-based company sent experts to the United States to download electrical data from the ship and look at its circuit breakers. The Dali lost power to its engines and electrical system in the moments before the collision. Homendy said investigators believe that issues with the electrical system were connected to the loss of control of the ship.

“Of course, that’s preliminary,” Homendy said. “It could take different roads, different paths as we continue this investigation. It’s very early.”

NTSB investigators are still on the scene, and Homendy said she did not expect a preliminary report on the incident to be issued until the first week of May.

“I’ve looked too many bereaved spouses, parents, siblings, friends and colleagues in the eye following tragedy,” Homendy said. “That is why I fight so hard for change, why everyone at the NTSB does.”

That NTSB investigation is proceeding even as intricate and dangerous work continues in efforts to clear the blocked shipping channel and recover the bodies of workers killed in the collapse. During a news briefing hours after the hearing, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) and other officials from the incident response team said salvagers are working to lift massive containers from the bow of the Dali to gain access to and eventually remove the bridge trusses that fell there.

Separately, work crews and dive teams are evaluating how to access and remove large chunks of steel that fell in the main channel. Officials said some of that wreckage has embedded in the muddy floor of the river, forcing crews to dig to reach and cut it.

Moore said removing materials above the water’s surface is complex, but “what’s even more complicated is what we don’t see.”

Federal investigators have said their probe includes interviews with the ship’s captain as well as two pilots who were at the vessel’s controls when it experienced power problems. The ship moved off course, past modest protective barriers and into a critical pier that bridge engineers said was not built to withstand such a massive force.

During the hearing, Homendy said transportation agencies that manage bridges ought to be considering whether the protections they have in place are adequate to address the changes in the shipping industry.

“If I was a state and the Department of Transportation, that’s what I’d be looking at now,” she said. “Are these bridges protected for the types of traffic that is going through now?”

Moore was at the Capitol on Tuesday trying to help lock in funds that President Biden promised after the tragedy. During the visit, Moore appealed to the “patriotic responsibility” of members of Congress to support the state’s swift recovery and rebuilding. He reiterated that request during his news briefing, inviting federal lawmakers to make the short trip from Washington to Baltimore to see for themselves what is at stake.

During Homendy’s renomination hearing earlier in the day, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), the top Republican on the committee, said the federal government “needs to help rebuild the bridge,” but he said it would be sensible to include legal protections to make sure taxpayers are made whole after what is likely to be years of court cases.

Cruz said he hopes the rebuilding of the Key Bridge is not subject to the “bureaucratic dithering and delays” that have accompanied other recent projects. He also pressed for speed in reopening the shipping channel, saying he cannot help but think that China “would have cleared the wreckage in days.”

In addition to heading to Baltimore and boarding the disabled ship, Homendy has been on the ground as part of NTSB investigations into a succession of transportation tragedies.

They include a helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others in 2020, and an incident earlier this year involving a blown-out door plug on a Boeing 737 Max 9, which caused no fatalities but underscored questions about manufacturing and safety at the aerospace giant. Homendy also has focused on efforts to cut the nation’s road deaths, which totaled more than 40,000 last year.

Homendy served on the staff of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee before becoming a member of the NTSB in 2018 and taking over as its chair in 2021.