2nd channel lets some vessels bypass Baltimore bridge site
BALTIMORE — Crews opened a second temporary channel on Tuesday allowing a limited amount of marine traffic to bypass the mangled wreckage of Baltimore’s collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge, which had blocked the vital port’s main shipping channel since its destruction one week ago.
Work is ongoing to open a third channel that will allow larger vessels to pass through the bottleneck and restore more commercial activity, officials announced at a news conference Tuesday afternoon. The channels are open primarily to vessels involved in the cleanup effort, along with some barges and tugs that have been stuck in the Port of Baltimore.
A tugboat pushing a fuel barge was the first vessel to use an alternate channel late Monday. It was supplying jet fuel to Delaware’s Dover Air Force Base.
Gov. Wes Moore said rough weather over the past two days has made the challenging salvage effort even more daunting. Conditions have been unsafe for divers trying to recover the bodies of the four workers believed trapped underwater in the wreckage.
“We promised these families that we would do everything in our power to bring them closure, but also my directive is to complete this mission with no injuries and no casualties,” Moore said.
Earlier Tuesday, Moore visited one of two centers that the Small Business Administration opened to help companies get loans to assist them with losses caused by disruption from the collapse.
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. While they are already feeling the immediate economic fallout of the collapse, he said, the ripple effects will be widespread, especially for small businesses.
For Alex Del Sordo, who owns a marina and waterside restaurant near the collapse site, 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 vessels 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 and help keep some local businesses afloat.
“I think small businesses will have to be creative in what they offer,” he said.
In Annapolis, lawmakers held a hearing Tuesday afternoon for a bill authorizing use of the state’s rainy-day fund to help port employees who are out of work and aren’t covered under unemployment insurance while the port is closed or partially closed.
Meanwhile, crews are undertaking the complicated work of removing steel and concrete at the site of the collapse. Crews have described the mangled steel girders as “chaotic wreckage.”
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Col. Estee Pinchasin said the underwater conditions are “extremely unforgiving” for divers.
“The magnitude of this is enormous,” she said.
To open the second channel, crews used a large crane to lift wreckage out of the way.
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.
Other vessels are also stuck in Baltimore’s harbor until shipping traffic can resume through the port, which is one of the largest on the East Coast. It handles more cars and farm equipment than any other U.S. port.
President Joe Biden, who has pledged significant federal resources to the recovery effort, is expected to visit the collapse site Friday.
The bridge fell after being struck by the cargo ship Dali, which lost power in the early hours of March 26 after leaving Baltimore on its way to Sri Lanka.