Vessels take channel around bridge
Tugboat, barge lead way on alternate route around wreckage from collapse in Baltimore.
BALTIMORE — A tugboat pushing a fuel barge was the first vessel to use an alternate channel to bypass the wreckage of Baltimore’s collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge, which had blocked traffic along the vital port’s main shipping channel.
The barge of jet fuel for the Defense Department traveled late Monday to Delaware’s Dover Air Force Base.
Officials have said the temporary channel is open primarily to vessels helping with the cleanup. But other barges and tugboats that had been stuck in the Port of Baltimore since last week’s collapse were also scheduled to pass through the channel.
Officials said they are working on a second channel on the southwest side of the main channel to let deeper draft vessels through, but they didn’t say when that might open.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore planned to visit one of two centers that the federal Small Business Administration opened in the area to help companies get loans to assist them with losses caused by the disruption due to the bridge collapse.
In the state capital, Annapolis, lawmakers planned a hearing on a bill authorizing the use of state reserves to provide financial assistance to port employees who are out of work due to the bridge collapse. Lawmakers are working to pass the bill quickly in the last week of the legislative session, which ends Monday.
Crews are undertaking the complicated work of removing steel and concrete at the site of the bridge’s deadly collapse after a container ship lost power and crashed into a supporting column on March 26. On Sunday, dive teams surveyed parts of the bridge and checked the ship, and workers in lifts used torches to cut above-water parts of the twisted steel superstructure.
Authorities believe six workers plunged to their deaths in the collapse, including two whose bodies were recovered last week. Two other workers survived.
Moore, a Democrat, said at a Monday afternoon news conference that his top priority is recovering the remaining bodies, followed by reopening shipping channels. He said that he understands the urgency but that risks are significant. Crews have described the mangled steel girders of the fallen bridge as “chaotic wreckage,” he said.
“What we’re finding is it is more complicated than we hoped for initially,” said U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Shannon Gilreath.
The ship remains stationary, and its 21 crew members remain on board for now, officials said.
President Biden is expected to visit the site Friday to meet with state and local officials and discuss federal response efforts.
The bridge fell as the cargo ship Dali lost power shortly after leaving Baltimore on its way to Sri Lanka. The ship issued a mayday alert, which allowed just enough time for police to stop traffic, but not enough to save a roadwork crew that was filling potholes on the bridge.
The Dali is managed by Synergy Marine Group and owned by Grace Ocean Private Ltd., both of Singapore, and was chartered by Danish shipping giant Maersk.
Synergy and Grace Ocean filed a court petition Monday seeking to limit their legal liability, a routine but important procedure for cases litigated under U.S. maritime law. A federal court in Maryland will ultimately decide who is responsible and how much they owe.
The filing seeks to cap the companies’ liability at about $43.6 million. It estimates that the vessel itself is valued at up to $90 million and was owed over $1.1 million in income from freight. The estimate also deducts at least $28 million in repair costs and at least $19.5 million in salvage costs.
Officials are trying to determine how to rebuild the major bridge, which was completed in 1977.
It carried Interstate 695 around southeast Baltimore and became a symbol of the city’s working-class roots and maritime culture.
Congress is expected to consider aid packages to help people who lose their jobs or businesses due to the prolonged closure of the Port of Baltimore. The port handles more cars and farm equipment than any other U.S. facility.