The 180 metre Strategic Alliance, a Singapore-flagged handysize bulk carrier built in 2013, hit the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge between Philadelphia and New Jersey at about 1.15pm local time on Thursday while the bridge’s draw span was open for marine traffic, Splash247 reported. The impact damaged part of the bridge and initially prevented it from closing, causing extensive traffic delays on both sides of the river; no injuries were reported, and the vessel later moored at a Kinder Morgan terminal in Bristol, Pennsylvania, where Coast Guard inspectors attended.
The bridge, opened in 1929 and carrying up to 76,200 vehicles a day, reopened at about 8.40pm with one lane still closed for repairs, and the cause of the collision remains under investigation. The incident follows the March 2024 strike by the Singapore-flagged Dali on Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed and killed six construction workers, and a Coast Guard review published in September that examined bridge and port vulnerabilities across 11 ports and produced 20 recommendations.