Bridge collapsed after cargo ship collision: “No pillar would withstand such a shock”. A Baltimore bridge collapsed in the middle of the night after being hit by a cargo ship.
The engineer Michel Virlogeux, who designed many bridges around the world, explains why “zero risk does not exist’. For a large cargo ship, it only takes a small navigation error 1 km before passing the bridge for it to be too late. It obviously depends on the type of boat but, if you take a 200,000 tonne tanker, you don't change its trajectory quickly.