Several pilots and tugboat captains wondered, would two powerful tugboats have been able to push the ship toward the channel and avoid a collision with the bridge in the crucial minutes during which the Dali lost power and black smoke began billowing from the stern. Read full coverage of the Key Bridge collapse. The Baltimore Banner thanks its sponsors. Become one. Ship tracking data from marinetraffic. Two tugboats, both operated by McAllister Towing and Transportation, helped the Dali out of the dock between a.
Those tugboats left the cargo ship around a. The Dali begins veering right and away from the main channel at a. The tugboats that accompanied it out of the dock, the Eric McAllister and Bridget McAllister, were the first to arrive on the scene after the crash, the ship tracking data showed.
Large ships, like the foot Dali, cannot easily maneuver through the harbor, and need tugboats to guide them away from the shipping terminals. The tugboats can also help push a ship that loses power, as the Dali had, away from the bridge, but experts said it is hard to know whether they could have prevented the accident.
Tugboats are usually mandated by ports to stay with cargo vessels for a specific period of time, according to Capt. Tugboats are not always necessary to escort cargo ships, according to Mike Reagoso, general manager at McAllister Towing. He declined to comment on specific information related to the tugboats operating the morning of the crash, but said environmental factors such as the weather play a role in determining whether tugboats are needed.
Tugboats are usually mandated by ports to stay with cargo vessels for a specific period of time, according to Spillane. Joseph Ahlstrom, a member of the Board of Commissioners of Pilots of the State of New York, said there may be a push for more tugboat escorts in the industry following the crash.
