Temporary shipping channel created after Baltimore bridge collapse

The US Coast Guard is preparing a temporary channel for commercial vessels near the fallen Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.

Crews have begun the complicated work of removing steel and concrete after the bridge’s deadly collapse into the Patapsco River following a freighter collision last week.

On Sunday, dive teams surveyed parts of the bridge and checked the ship, and workers used blowtorches to cut above-water parts of the twisted steel superstructure.

The captain of the port is preparing to establish the temporary channel on the north-east side of the main channel.

It will have a controlling depth of 11ft (more than 3m), a horizontal clearance of 264ft (80m) and a vertical clearance of 96ft (29m), officials said. A video released on Sunday showed the Coast Guard dropping buoys in the water.

“This will mark an important first step along the road to reopening the port of Baltimore,” Captain David O'connell, the federal on-scene co-ordinator of the response, said. “By opening this alternate route, we will support the flow of marine traffic into Baltimore.”

The Small Business Administration yesterday opened a centre in Dundalk, Maryland, to help small businesses get loans to help them with losses caused by the disruption from the bridge collapse.

The bridge fell as the crew of the cargo ship Dali lost power and control on March 26. They called in a mayday, which allowed just enough time for police to stop vehicles from getting on the bridge, but not enough time to get a crew of eight workers off the structure.

Two workers survived, two bodies were found in a submerged pick-up, and four more men are presumed dead.

Weather conditions and tangled underwater debris have made it too dangerous for divers to search for bodies.

The Dali is managed by Synergy Marine Group and owned by Grace Ocean Private Ltd.

Danish shipping giant Maersk chartered the Dali, which was on its way out of port when it lost power and hit one of the bridge's support columns.

Along with clearing the shipping channel to reopen the port, officials are trying to determine how to rebuild the bridge, built in 1977.