First vessel uses new channel to bypass wreckage of Baltimore bridge collapse
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 supplying jet fuel to the Department of Defense left late Monday and was destined for Delaware’s Dover Air Force Base, though officials have said the temporary channel is open primarily to vessels that are helping with the cleanup effort. Some barges and tugs that have been stuck in the Port of Baltimore since the collapse are also scheduled to pass through the channel.
Officials said they’re also working to open a second channel on the southwest side of the main channel that will allow for deeper draft vessels, but they haven’t said when that might open.
On Tuesday, Gov. Wes Moore visited one of two centres that the Small Business Administration opened in the area to help companies get loans to assist them with losses caused by the disruption of the bridge collapse.
U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, a Democrat who accompanied Moore in meetings with potential loan applicants, said he spoke with truck drivers who relied on the port to supply their cargo. They are among those feeling the immediate economic effects of the collapse, he said, but the ripple effects will be widespread — especially for small businesses, which he called “the growth engine of our nation.”
For Alex Del Sordo, who owns a marina and waterside restaurant near the collapse site, said the future economic landscape is largely a mystery. So far, his businesses have been busy servicing boats involved in the recovery and salvage operation and offering discounted meals for first responders. He said he and his partner are considering applying for a low-interest loan.
He anticipates a decrease in pleasure boating because boats moored in Baltimore’s harbor are temporarily trapped there. But he said rebuilding the Key Bridge will likely bring a large influx of labor and maritime traffic into the area, which could help some local businesses stay afloat.
“I think small businesses will have to be creative in what they offer,” he said.
Shipping costs and commute times will also increase for the working-class, water-oriented communities on either side of the bridge.
In Annapolis, a hearing is scheduled Tuesday afternoon for a bill authorizing use of the state’s rainy day fund to help port employees who are out of work because of the bridge collapse and aren’t covered under unemployment insurance while the port is closed or partially closed. The bill also would let the governor use state reserves to help some small businesses avoid laying people off and to encourage companies that relocate to other ports to return to Baltimore when it reopens.
Lawmakers are working to pass the bill quickly in the last week of their 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.
Authorities believe six members of a road construction crew plunged to their deaths in the collapse, including two whose bodies were recovered last week. Two other workers survived.