The cargo ship Dali lies in the water after striking and collapsing the Francis Scott Key Bridge March 26, 2024 in Baltimore, Maryland.
Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images
Maryland engineers began removing a piece of the Francis Scott Key Bridge from the waterway in Baltimore on Saturday, the first step in a long process to reopen the city’s shipping port.
“I cannot stress enough the importance of today and the first movement of this bridge and its debris,” Gov. Wes Moore said at a news conference Saturday. “The complexity of this situation cannot be overstated.”
Early Tuesday morning, the Key Bridge collapsed when a container ship collided with one of its piers, leaving several people missing, six of whom the U.S. Coast Guard said died.
“We will never lose sight of the human aspect of this crisis,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said Saturday.
Since the collapse, the Port of Baltimore, the 11th largest port in the United States, has remained out of service until further notice, forcing shipping lines to divert to other ports.
Government officials at the federal, state and municipal levels have mobilized their teams to begin trying to bring the port back online. President Joe Biden is expected to visit the city next week and has pledged that the federal government will cover the entire cost of salvaging and rebuilding the bridge.
To perform the first lift of the bridge on Saturday, engineers cut a piece of the bridge to make it manageable for their crane. Once the piece is cut, engineers will attach straps to it, rig it and lift it onto a barge to transport it out of the waterway.
If successful, this process could be replicated for other parts of the bridge to clear a passage to allow some transportation to resume, both for more vessels to assist in the recovery of the bridge site and possibly for some commercial navigation.
“Once we’re able to reopen a canal, it can potentially be reused for commercial assets as well, but we need to clarify that first and that’s what we’re working on,” said Shannon Gilreath, head of the US Coast Guard.
Economists say the Baltimore port closure likely won’t have a major impact on the macroeconomy, but it is nonetheless a major disruption that complicates shipping supply chains.
“It’s not just about Maryland. It’s about our nation’s economy,” said Governor Moore. “Our economy depends on the Port of Baltimore and the Port of Baltimore depends on maritime traffic.”
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