A temporary shipping channel is expected to reopen at a greater depth to commercial vessel traffic at the Port of Baltimore around May 10, as salvage crews continue to work to free the Dali freighter from the wreckage from the Francis Scott Key Bridge, officials said Tuesday.
The Dali struck a key support pillar of the bridge March 26, sending it plummeting into the Patapsco River and killing six construction workers who had been repairing potholes on the span.
Since then, the mammoth cargo ship has remained aground and trapped under a massive chunk of the bridge as crews strive to restore at least some shipping traffic to one of the East Coast’s busiest ports.
The temporary Fort McHenry Limited Access Channel that crews hope to reopen in a week and a half with a depth of 45 feet had opened temporarily for four days with 38 feet of bottom clearance. Before closing as expected Monday morning, five ships that had been stranded in Baltimore were able to escape, while the first container ship to call the port since the accident arrived and departed.
In total, during the four-day window, 19 vessels sailed through, including nine arrivals and 10 departures, carrying sugar, cement, fertilizer, lumber and other goods, and providing work for nearly 200 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association, Gov. Wes Moore said Tuesday during a news conference.
“That’s an important milestone,” Moore said. But, he added, “it’s a temporary solution. We cannot take our eyes off the ball. The focus is making sure that we are going to open the 50-foot channel, and we will.”
But to restore the port to its full capacity and rebuild the bridge, Moore said, the state needs the support of Congress. To that end, he said he has visited Capitol Hill and, later this week, will host the “entire” House Committee on Appropriations.
“We’ve already had members of Congress … from Florida to Washington state show up to see the wreckage,” he said.
Moore and other officials…
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