Could Privatized Oceans Have Prevented the Baltimore Bridge Collapse?
Private property rights and the profit motive can be expected to enhance safety on land. Why should things be any different on the water?
The Singaporean container ship Dali struck Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge at 1:27 a.m. on March 26, 2024. Fortunately, only a small amount of debris tumbled with the bridge into the Patapsco River below, and the deaths were limited to six construction workers. Had this accident occurred at 1:27 p.m. instead, the carnage would have been far greater. As it is, the deaths are still a tragedy, and there will be economic devastation aplenty, given that this harbor will have to be shut down for some time. The coal, autos, and much else shipped through this port will find alternatives in other East Coast states, but moving to these supply chain substitutes will be costly.
Terrorism was ruled out as a cause of this calamity. It appears as though the ship’s electronic system was faulty. The pilot lost control of the vessel and collided with one of the stanchions of the bridge, caving it in.
Is there anything that can be done to preclude such accidents forever in the future? No. Unfortunately not. We are all human beings, and our species is the mistake-making animal. Is there anything that can be done to decrease the probability of a repetition of such an occurrence in the future? Happily, there is: an acknowledgement of private property rights and the profit motive.
Walter Block is the author of The Privatization of Roads and Highways: Human and Economic Factors, and the co-author of Water Capitalism: The Case for Privatizing Oceans, Rivers, Lakes, and Aquifers.