Container Cleanup at Baltimore Bridge Crash Site Begins After Biden Visit
Two days after President Joe Biden visited the site of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore and pledged federal support for the recovery effort, the incident’s response team began cleaning up the cargo in what it called a “critical step” to reopening the waterway to the Port of Baltimore.
On Sunday, Key Bridge Response Unified Command began removing shipping containers from the 980-foot vessel Dali, which crashed into the bridge March 26, causing its collapse and resulting in the deaths of six construction workers. The bodies of three workers have been recovered, while three others remain missing.
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“To all our military members and first responders and most importantly, the people of Maryland, I’m here to say your nation has your back, and I mean it. Your nation has your back,” Biden said, standing against the backdrop of the collapsed bridge. “The damage is devastating, and our hearts are still breaking.”
The president said the administration would “move heaven and earth to rebuild this bridge as rapidly as humanly possible, and we’re going to do so with union labor and American steel.” Biden called on Congress to pass funding to rebuild the bridge and reiterated that the federal government would fully foot the bill.
Director of the Office of Management and Budget Shalanda Young sent a letter to congressional leaders on Friday asking them to authorize “a 100 percent federal cost share for rebuilding the bridge.”
The Maersk-chartered Dali has remained stuck in the wreckage since the March crash. The removal of the containers from the deck of the Dali will continue this week as weather permits, according to a statement from the Unified Command, a cooperative of first responders, recovery crews, and agencies planning to redevelop the bridge and reopen the waterway. The group includes the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and various state agencies, such as Maryland State Police and Maryland Transportation Authority.
“The Unified Command is concurrently progressing on its main lines of effort to remove enough debris to open the channel to larger commercial traffic, refloat the M/V Dali and continue recovery efforts for missing loved ones,” Coast Guard Capt. David O’Connell, Unified Command federal on-scene coordinator, said in a statement. “Every day we are working to achieve these goals safely and efficiently.”
The vessel had 56 containers on board, including 764 tons of corrosive, flammable material and batteries, according to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) chair Jennifer Homendy.
The removal of these containers is a critical step required to safely move the Dali and eventually fully reopen the Fort McHenry Channel, according to the Unified Command. Removing the containers should allow for safe access to subsequently remove the pieces of the bridge that lie across the ship’s bow, taking weight off the vessel and ultimately allowing it to leave the site. Container removal was being done with a floating crane.
The bridge’s collapse has blocked the Fort McHenry Channel and thus throttled nearly all ocean traffic in and out of the port, though officials have established two temporary, alternate channels for vessels involved in clearing debris. In total, 32 vessels have passed through the temporary channels on either side of the wreckage, officials said Sunday.
In the interim, ocean carriers like Mediterranean Sea Company (MSC), Maersk and CMA CGM have been rerouting container ships to other ports, namely East Coast gateways including the Port of New York & New Jersey, the Port of Virginia and the Port of Philadelphia.
The Army Corps of Engineers said Thursday it hopes to open a 280-foot-wide, limited-access one-way shipping channel for barge container ships and some vessels moving cars and farm equipment by the end of April, and aims to reopen the permanent, 700-foot-wide by 50-foot-deep channel by May 31. That would restore port access to normal capacity.
“While this timeline is ambitious and dependent on a number of factors, setting this goal is critically important for those families that are still waiting to bring loved ones home and the thousands of Baltimoreans and Marylanders who rely on the Port,” said Baltimore mayor Brandon Scott.
In his Friday speech, President Biden announced that the federal government plans to provide more than $8 million in grant funds to make infrastructure improvements at Baltimore’s Sparrows Point—the only area of the port unaffected by the bridge collapse—so it can take on more ships and double its current automotive shipping capacity.
The president also announced that his administration would provide grants to workers affected by the pause in port operations and said the Small Business Administration would offer low-interest loans for small businesses impacted by the incident.
