Dispatch audio from emergency responders captured the tense atmosphere after a cargo ship rammed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge early Tuesday, causing it to be completely destroyed. 

Operators of the Dali cargo ship had issued a mayday call that the vessel had lost power moments before the crash, but the ship still headed toward the span at “a very, very rapid speed,” Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said.

The 985-foot-long vessel struck one of the 1.6-mile long bridge’s supports, causing the span to break and fall into the water within seconds.

An emergency responder could be heard on the dispatch audio mentioning that construction workers had been operating on the bridge during the collapse, and an “unknown amount of those workers [were] in the water.” That prompted a call for a dive team. 

The collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge is a “major disaster” for the economy — threatening to disrupt $80 billion in cargo that travels to an from one of America’s busiest ports, and more than 140,000 jobs tied to the shipping traffic, experts said.

The immediate upshot for Americans — if you’re waiting for a new car to come in from overseas, prepare to wait longer. The Port of Baltimore stands as the nation’s leading import and export site for cars, light trucks.

It’s also the leading nexus for sugar and gypsum — which is used in fertilizer, drywall and plaster. A record 52.3 million tons of foreign cargo was transported through Baltimore in 2023.

The bustling port is cut off after the 1.6-mile bridge crumbled and fell into the Patapsco River early Tuesday, blocking the only shipping lane into the port.

The Port of Baltimore — the biggest handler of US imports and exports of cars and light trucks — looks to be out of commission indefinitely. The resulting bottleneck could accelerate a shift of goods through West Coast ports. Another crucial question: Which other ports have spare capacity to handle the Ro-Ro vessels that carry automobiles if Baltimore is closed for an extended period.

Multiple intel sources: Baltimore bridge collapse was an “absolutely brilliant strategic attack” on US critical infrastructure – most likely cyber – & our intel agencies know it. In information warfare terms, they just divided the US along the Mason Dixon line exactly like the Civil War.

Second busiest strategic roadway in the nation for hazardous material now down for 4-5 years – which is how long they say it will take to recover. Bridge was built specifically to move hazardous material – fuel, diesel, propane gas, nitrogen, highly flammable materials, chemicals and oversized cargo that cannot fit in the tunnels – that supply chain now crippled.

Make no mistake: this was an extraordinary attack in terms of planning, timing & execution.

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The footage shows the cargo ship never got in the approach lane in the channel. You have to be in the channel before you get into that turn. Location was precise/deliberate: chose a bend in the river where you have to slow down and commit yourself – once you are committed in that area there is not enough room to maneuver.

Should have had a harbor pilot to pilot the boat. You are not supposed to traverse any obstacles without the harbor pilot.

They chose a full moon so they would have maximum tidal shift – rise and fall. Brisk flow in that river on a normal day & have had a lot of rain recently so water was already moving along at a good pace.

Hit it with enough kinetic energy to knock the load-bearing pylon out from under the highway – which fatally weakens the span and then 50 percent of the bridge fell into the water. All these factors when you look at it – this is how you teach people how to do this type of attack and there are so few people left in the system who know this. We have a Junior varsity team on the field.

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When you choke off Baltimore you have cut the main north-south hazardous corridor (I95) in half. Now has to go around the city – or go somewhere else.