Key Bridge collapse: First large ships leaves Port of Baltimore using deeper temporary channel

BALTIMORE — The first of 11 ships trapped for a month behind the wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge left the Port of Baltimore Thursday using an alternate shipping channel that opened earlier in the morning.

The Balsa 94, a cargo ship, sailed just before 10 a.m. with the help of two tugboats, passing chunks of the fallen steel bridge and the still grounded Dali freighter that crashed into and destroyed the span March 26.

At nearly 350 feet long, it was the smallest of the stranded vessels. The Balsa 94 is headed to Saint John, Canada, where it’s scheduled to arrive by early next week.

It was followed shortly before noon by the Saimaagracht, a Netherlands-flagged general cargo ship, then by the Wallenius Wilhelmsen vehicle carrier Carmen just before 2 p.m, sailing under the flag of Sweden.

Coast guard officials said Thursday the channel had a depth of 38 feet, not 35 feet as originally announced. It is the deepest yet of four temporary alternate routes in and out of the port. But the new Fort McHenry Limited Access Channel, for commercially essential vessels, will stay open only through 6 a.m. Monday, or through Tuesday if weather adversely affects transit.

“The primary focus of this four-day period is to allow the ships that have remained within the Port of Baltimore since the March 26 incident to leave,” port officials said in a statement Wednesday.

The port has been blocked to most vessel traffic since the Dali struck a bridge support column March 26, causing the 1.6-mile bridge to collapse and killing six construction workers.

Five of the vessels stranded in the Baltimore harbor, including a car carrier, were expected to get out during the four-day window, said Capt. David O’Connell, the Coast Guard’s Captain of the Port for the Key Bridge Response Unified Command. Inbound vessels are expected to include a small bulk carrier and a ship carrying aluminum, he said.

“We’re working to strike a balance between enabling temporary access to support commercial activity and undertaking necessary measures to fully reopen the Fort McHenry Channel,” O’Connell said in a statement Thursday. “This limited access deep draft channel will provide a window for five of the deep draft vessels currently unable to depart the port as well as some smaller deep draft vessels to transit.”

Four of the 11 cargo ships docked at berths in the port have no “immediate” plans to depart just yet. They are part of the U.S. Maritime Administration’s Ready Reserve Force, a fleet established in 1976 to quickly supply American troops around the world. A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration said Wednesday that he knew of no immediate plans to move those ships from the port.

Several vessels also were headed toward Baltimore’s port as of Thursday morning, according to the tracking website VesselFinder. They included Strategic Tenacity, which stopped south of the Bay Bridge and was approached by a pilot boat a little after 8 a.m. but was then at anchor, and Frisian Ocean, a cargo ship that had been at anchor south of the Bay Bridge for several days.

Other that might arrive in the coming days include the Fu Quan Shan, which is in Bermuda but reports an estimated arrival in Baltimore late Saturday, and Lake Wanaka, a vehicle carrier near Canada estimated to arrive in Baltimore on Sunday.

About half the vessels handled at Baltimore’s port could use a 35-foot channel, said Richard Scher, a spokesman for the Maryland Port Administration.

But “the criteria for vessels set by the Coast Guard to come through the channel remains fluid, including weight and beam limits,” he said.

Here’s more of what we know:

—The nonmilitary vessels trapped behind the wreckage have been berthed around the harbor from Seagirt Marine Terminal and the Canton industrial waterfront to a coal pier in Curtis Bay.

—Two of the stranded ships likely need to wait before they can leave, based on their required draft depth, including the bulk carrier Klara Oldendorf, sailing under the flag of Madeira, and the coal carrier JY River, sailing under the flag of Liberia. Both need a nearly 50-foot channel to sail when loaded.

—Others that have been stuck in port but may be able to depart include the Palanca Rio — an oil/chemical tanker sailing under the flag of the Marshall Islands and the Phatra Naree — a bulk carrier sailing under the flag of Thailand.

—The Carmen, owned by Wallenius Wilhelmsen, needs 37 feet of water when fully loaded but was able to depart using the new channel.

The Norway-based shipping line said earlier this month that it estimates a monthlong financial impact in the range of $5 million to $10 million from the Carmen being stuck in Baltimore. Cargo operations were completed at the port before the bridge fell, and the Carmen and crew of about 20 were prepared to sail, the company said at the time.

—The Carmen is carrying autos and heavy vehicles and headed for Manzanillo, Mexico, said David Hopkins, a Wallenius spokesman on Thursday. Last year, the shipping line made more than 150 port calls in Baltimore.

“We are currently assessing the practicality and viability of our vessels entering the port during the current limited window,” Hopkins said.

—The five ships slated for departure from the port all require less draft than the 38 feet that the newly opening channel offers. The Saimaagracht needs nearly 35 feet, but only when fully loaded. The Phatra Naree needs 33.5 feet when loaded; the Palanca Rio needs as many as 29 feet; and the Balsa 94 needs just 22 feet.

—The newest channel is available along with three other temporary channels, with depths of 11, 14 and 20 feet. The new channel will be marked with lighted aids and limited to transit at the discretion of the Coast Guard’s Captain of the Port based on weather conditions.

—Vessels must be operated by a Maryland State pilot and escorted by two tugboats at speeds at or below 5 knots because of the channel’s proximity to the grounded Dali. Ships with more than 60,000 long tons of displacement will most likely not be allowed through the channel.

—After shutting down next week, the 38-foot channel will not reopen until around May 10, to allow salvage crews to begin lifting steel off the Dali and using a hydraulic grabber to clear debris from the harbor’s main 50-foot shipping channel. The Army Corps of Engineers expects to reopen the Port of Baltimore’s permanent 700-foot wide, 50-foot deep channel by the end of May.

—The first three temporary channels have been in use by smaller vessels and barges. Domino Sugar, which has a refinery on the Inner Harbor in Baltimore’s Locust Point, posted on Facebook that the sugar barge Jonathan, which regularly delivers shipments of raw sugar to the refinery, returned Wednesday using the 20-foot navigation channel.

“Thank you to the Coast Guard and the entire Unified Command who made this possible,” the manufacturer said in its post.

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(Baltimore Sun reporters Angela Roberts and Dan Belson and photographer Jerry Jackson contributed to this article.)

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