Baltimore bridge collapse and shipping safety

Container ship capacity has grown in size by around 1,500% in the last 50 years (see infographic) but it is important to note that the Dali isn't anywhere near as large as the biggest vessels now hauling goods around the world.

For example, the Ever Given, which blocked the Suez Canal for a week in March 2021, can carry more than 20,000 containers if full.

The Dali can carry around 10,000 (although it was carrying less than half this amount when it hit the bridge). Nevertheless, it is still almost 1,000 feet long, the length of three football fields. Ships of the Dali's size require careful consideration when navigating in restricted waters, especially when it comes to stopping distance.

Back in the 1970s when the Francis Scott Key Bridge was built, container ships would have been less than half its size, probably even a lot less.

Ultimately, larger ships are not resulting in a higher frequency of accidents but when something does go wrong, the scale of the damage is likely to be much more severe because of their size and the fact that surrounding civil infrastructure did not anticipate such behemoths.