HOUSTON — After a cargo ship lost power and rammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, causing the bridge to collapse, we wondered if the same thing could happen in Houston.
Houston has many bridges that stretch across a body of water that's used for cargo ships. In fact, the Port of Houston is the nation's largest port by tonnage and a hub for the petrochemical industry.
Capt. Eric Carrero, president of the Greater Houston Port Bureau, said some key differences would make a disaster like the one in Baltimore less likely in Houston.
For example, the bridge in Baltimore, which is about a mile and a half long, has support pillars that rest on unprotected pilings in 20 to 30 feet of water, meaning a deep draft vessel, that needs 20 feet of water to sail in, can run into a support pillar.
Carrero said that's not the case for Houston.
"For example, the Fred Hartman Bridge," Carrero said. "The pilings are located outside of the navigation channel and the water depth is about 2 to 3 feet. So, a vessel that size is going to run aground before hitting those columns. So it's not going to be able to hit. The same applies to our Beltway, the Sam Houston Tollway bridge."
Carrero, who was in the Coast Guard for 26 years, said he did inspections of foreign-flagged vessels, like the one in Baltimore. He said most foreign ships are in very good shape and have backup generators for things like steering in case of power issues.
He said it's too early to speculate what happened in Baltimore.