PIANC Panama - Agenda

Recent decades have demonstrated the potential vulnerability of major bridge crossings over navigable waterways to catastrophic collapse due to extreme event loads. This paper will discuss ship and barge collision with bridges over waterways using lessons learned from historical accidents worldwide and analysis procedures for vessel collision assessments for new and existing bridges in the United States. This paper also discusses the application of ship and barge collision risk analysis procedures to model complex navigation channel geometries near bridges and modern electronic navigation systems and port control procedures that potentially reduce the risk of collision.