“The Baltimore Francis Scott Key Bridge take-down was a trillion-dollar costly event, ongoing, and yet all culpable persons remain unnamed, kept totally anonymous, with some reportedly having been slyly ‘escaped’ from the country! There is, in fact, zero publicly-verifiable evidence that any genuine Captain, Pilots or Crew ever existed: Was DALI a remote-controlled ghost-ship on kamikazee mission from its outset? No waves or creaking metal nor splash-down sounds at all were recorded nor (initially) noted by any (reportedly) nearby persons; cameras recorded zero shaking, seismometers measured zero vibration. Anomalies and oddities galore overwhelm the aftermath, beguile reason, confound explanation. No interviews exist with supposed survivors; “family and friends” etc interviews reveal ‘dupers-delight’ micro-facial-expressions with other hallmarks suggestive of fraud. No verifications of any supposed deaths have yet been publicized. Rampant is the extremely suspicious damage with blatantly visible, verifiable anomalies (including massive, five-storys tall fireballs in both original night-time videos) totally inexplicable (and wholly ignored) by official theory or story. Grand payola galore is already underway with loads more coming. This event appears to involve another shabby yet audacious crime, militarized from gov to salvage to rebuild. There was no rescue skiff on scene as required by OSHA. No horn blasts from ship warned of imminent collision. The DALI ship departed despite (supposed) dire electrical problems, illegal at any time and even more highly unusual in the cold, dark night-time (part #94 first ‘after-sundown departure’ in two years and part #126 night time ship departures). It goes on and on and on. Criminal was this manufactured event, through and through, and that’s before considering the absurd number of other anomalies ignored by the complicit, owned, ‘kept-pet’ mass-media…”
Part #91 adapted from a video comment.
Don’t miss the apparent precursor Tampa Bay Sunshine Skyway Bridge take-down test-run in 1981.
Index . Oddity List . Official Story . Summary
Baltimore Key Bridge #126 – Night time ship departures
Got it. I’ll research typical cargo ship departures from the Port of Baltimore between midnight and 6 a.m., including how many ships generally depart in that time window, the types of ships and cargo involved, and how this traffic has trended over time—going back to 2010 or as far back as data allows. I’ll also assess whether the timing of the Dali’s departure was unusual or consistent with past patterns.
I’ll let you know once I have the full findings.
Cargo Ship Traffic at the Port of Baltimore (Midnight–6 A.M.)
Average Departures Between Midnight and 6 A.M.
The Port of Baltimore is a 24/7 operation, and while ships can depart at any hour, relatively few departures occur in the midnight-to-6 a.m. window on a typical day. On average, roughly one or two vessels depart between midnight and 6 a.m. per day (around 7–14 per week). This is in the context of about 5–6 total vessel calls per day on average. In other words, overnight departures represent a minority of daily ship movements. Vessel traffic data indicates that port activity tends to peak in the early morning hours (around 4–6 a.m.) – a time when many ships either set sail or arrive – whereas the hours just after midnight see comparatively fewer movements. For example, an AIS-based analysis showed a pronounced spike in vessel traffic closer to pre-dawn (4–6 a.m.), suggesting that while late-night departures do happen, they are not as frequent as those just before daybreak.
Table 1: Representative Vessel Call Volume by Ship Type (Port of Baltimore)
| Vessel Type | Annual Calls (approx.) | Typical Cargo |
|---|---|---|
| Container Ships | ~500 calls/year | Consumer goods, electronics, foodstuffs, etc. (in containers). |
| Ro-Ro Carriers (Vehicle Ships) | ~450 calls/year | Automobiles (imports & exports), trucks, construction and farm machinery. |
| Bulk Carriers | ~300 calls/year | Bulk commodities such as coal (for export), ores, petroleum coke, grain, etc.. |
| General Cargo Ships (Break-bulk) | ~150 calls/year | Steel products, forest products (e.g. wood pulp), project cargo, other break-bulk. |
| Tankers (Chemical/Oil) | ~50–60 calls/year | Liquid bulk like petroleum products, chemicals, etc. |
Notes: Annual call figures are rough estimates for 2022, illustrating the scale of each category (foreign-trade vessel calls). “Ro-Ro” refers to roll-on/roll-off vessels (primarily car carriers). Nearly 2,000 total commercial vessels (cargo + cruise) call at Baltimore in a typical year, making it one of the busiest U.S. ports by vessel traffic.
Types of Ships Departing at Night
All major classes of cargo vessels call at Baltimore and may depart during the night hours. These include container ships, bulk carriers, roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) vehicle carriers, general cargo (multi-deck) ships, and occasionally tankers. In practice, any of these ship types might have a departure scheduled in the midnight-6 a.m. window, depending on operational needs (e.g. completion of cargo handling or tide/pilot timing). There is no strict curfew on port departures, so container vessels that finish loading late at night or car carriers that have loaded their autos can and do sail in the wee hours.
However, container ships and vehicle carriers make up the bulk of Baltimore’s traffic and thus dominate even the nocturnal departures. Container ships carry diverse consumer and industrial goods in containers – Baltimore handles about 1.1 million TEU (containers) annually in recent years – and often depart once cargo operations are completed, sometimes pre-dawn to keep schedule. Ro-Ro vessels, for which Baltimore is the #1 U.S. port for autos and Ro-Ro machinery, frequently depart with cargoes of new automobiles, farm machinery, and other vehicles. These ships may sail at night as well, especially if they arrive and load in the evening. Bulk carriers (carrying coal, ores, etc.) typically depart as soon as loading is finished, which can be at any hour; coal piers often operate round-the-clock. Other ship types (like tankers carrying fuel or chemicals, and break-bulk general cargo ships carrying steel, timber, etc.) constitute a smaller share of calls but also have 24-hour operations. In summary, container ships, car carriers, and bulk ships are the most common nighttime departures, reflecting the port’s specialization in containers, vehicles, and bulk commodities.
Typical cargoes: The Port of Baltimore handles a wide array of cargo. Key exports include coal (millions of tons of coal are exported to Asia from Baltimore), autos and machinery (Baltimore ships out many used vehicles and construction equipment, e.g. to Africa), as well as grains and scrap materials. Major imports include consumer goods in containers (everything from furniture to electronics), new automobiles (Baltimore is a leading port for importing cars, such as BMWs from Europe), forest products like wood pulp, and bulk products like salt, sugar, and aluminum. Ro-Ro ships bring in tractors and farm equipment, while general cargo ships might carry steel and project cargo. These commodities move through day and night, so night departures will be laden with the same goods – e.g. a midnight departing container ship might be carrying retail goods, and a bulk carrier leaving at 2 a.m. could be loaded with coal or grain.
Nighttime Departure Trends (2010–Present)
Night departures have become more routine over the past decade as the port’s overall throughput grew. In the early 2010s, Baltimore was handling on the order of 1,500–1,700 vessel calls per year. By the late 2010s, traffic had risen to around 2,000 ship calls per year (for example, 2,011 ship calls in 2019 – a near-record year). This growth in vessel traffic was driven by record cargo volumes (e.g. 52.3 million tons of foreign cargo in 2023, the port’s best year on record). With more ships to service, the incidence of overnight operations increased in absolute terms – terminals, labor, and pilots have accommodated more late-night and early-morning movements to keep cargo flowing.
That said, the pattern of daily ship timing has remained relatively consistent. Baltimore’s port has long operated 24/7, and even a decade ago it had ships occasionally arriving or departing in the midnight hours. According to transportation analysis, vessel transits in Baltimore consistently show two daily surges – one in the pre-dawn (around 4–6 a.m.) and another late afternoon/early evening (4–8 p.m.). This suggests that historically many ships plan to head out in the early morning (possibly to take advantage of daylight down the Chesapeake or meet tides/schedules), whereas the dead of night (midnight–2 a.m.) has typically been a lull between peaks. Over the 2010–2025 period, as overall vessel calls climbed, the number of nighttime (00:00–06:00) departures likely rose proportionally, but there’s no clear evidence of a dramatic shift in the share of departures occurring at night – the port always had some, and still does. One study of 2016 port data, for example, noted that an “early morning peak” in ship movements was a longstanding phenomenon. In summary, night departures have been a regular part of Port of Baltimore operations for decades, and while the total volume of overnight sailings in 2025 is higher than in 2010 simply due to more ships overall, the relative pattern (with most departures clustering toward dawn) has remained roughly the same.
From 2010 to present, infrastructure improvements (like deeper berths and new cranes in 2012–2022) have enabled larger ships and more volume, but also required maintaining flexible schedules. The port and the Chesapeake Bay pilots have demonstrated capability to handle big ships at night using navigation aids and tugs. Notably, even during the surge of supply-chain traffic in 2021–22, Baltimore avoided major vessel congestion – it even handled dozens of “ad hoc” diverted ships – by working around the clock, including nighttime shifts. Thus, the trend has been continuation (and slight increase) of nighttime departures in line with growing trade, rather than any new restrictions or dramatic changes in policy on night operations.
The DALI Ship’s After-Midnight Departure – An Anomaly?
The container ship DALI departed Baltimore shortly after midnight (around 12:39 a.m. on March 26, 2024). Is this timing unusual compared to general patterns? Yes and no. It is not unheard-of for ships to leave just after midnight – Baltimore does see departures at all hours – however, DALI’s timing was a bit earlier than the typical busy window. As noted, many vessels that depart overnight tend to do so closer to 4–5 a.m. (the peak period), whereas a departure right around 00:30–1:00 a.m. falls in a quieter period of the night. In that sense, DALI’s cast-off time was somewhat out of the ordinary, missing the pre-dawn wave when multiple ships often get underway.
It’s important to emphasize that DALI’s departure was still within normal operating hours – the port and pilots are available 24 hours, and there was nothing procedurally improper about a 12:39 a.m. sailing. Indeed, port records show that overnight departures happen regularly, even if fewer in number. For example, on some nights one ship might depart around midnight while another leaves at 5 a.m., depending on when cargo work finishes or when a ship is due at its next port. In DALI’s case, the vessel had arrived on March 23 and finished loading such that it was ready to sail just after midnight on the 26th. The decision to sail at that hour may have been driven by scheduling (to meet tide or berthing windows at the next port, Norfolk, by morning) and by the completion of engine repairs that had delayed it.
What truly made DALI’s departure notable was not the time of night per se, but the tragic outcome of its voyage. The ship’s loss of power and collision with the Key Bridge shortly after 1:25 a.m. was an extreme anomaly. Typically, a container ship leaving at midnight would transit out to sea without incident. In fact, had DALI not suffered an outage, its post-midnight departure would have been just another late-night sailing, of a kind the port handles occasionally. Harbor safety protocols (e.g. two pilots aboard DALI, tugs escorting) were in place as usual for a nighttime transit. However, the tug escort unfortunately (or perhaps by devious design) was ended prior to the DALI passing under the FSKey Bridge.
In summary, the timing of DALI’s departure – just after midnight – was slightly outside the peak period but not unprecedented. Many ships do prefer to depart a few hours later in the early morning, so DALI’s cast-off could be seen as a bit off-peak. However, it wasn’t an outrageous anomaly; plenty of departures do occur in the 00:00–02:00 timeframe over the years (just less frequently). The outcome of DALI’s voyage (the bridge strike) was the truly exceptional aspect, not the hour of sailing. In the context of Baltimore’s general patterns, DALI’s midnight departure falls within the normal operational range, even if most other ships tend to leave closer to dawn.
Sources: Recent Maryland Port Administration and BTS reports; NTSB and news investigations of the DALI incident; and historical port statistics. Key data points are drawn from Maryland Port Authority records and U.S. Army Corps/BTS vessel call datasets, and DALI’s timeline is documented in news/NTSB reports (see references). All cited information is from authoritative sources such as the Maryland Port Administration, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, and reputable news outlets.
