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I can’t find any bridges which have a barrier that can protect against a fully loaded container ship. I have seen plenty of barriers which would protect against personal watercraft and smaller working ships like smaller tugs/coast guard ships/shrimping boats, etc.

But a loaded container ship at 8 knots is not going to be stopped by anything remotely feasible.

Container ships weigh between 50,000 and 220,000 tons. A US aircraft carrier weighs 100,000 tons.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolphin_%28structure%29?wprov=...

If they're designed to stop a bulk carrier then presumably they can stop a container ship.


That article gives an example of being hit by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Summit_Venture

deadweight tonnage of 33,912, gross tonnage of 19,735, and a net tonnage of 13,948.

The one that took down this bridge:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Dali

Her registered gross and net tonnages are 91,128 and 52,150, respectively, and her deadweight tonnage is 116,851

Many times larger.


Closer than I expected though! It’s possible there are some out there made for this scenario.


The Key Bridge had dolphins but not fenders, some descriptions since the incident have indicated that it has fewer dolphins than some other bridges.




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