Nearly two months after destroying Baltimore’s Key Bridge, the freighter Dali has been moved and docked. Here is the continuation

Baltimore
CNN
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After 55 days stuck in the Patapsco River, the freighter Dali was transported away from the site of its catastrophic crash to the Francis Scott Key Bridge – a crucial step toward fully reopening Baltimore’s busy port.

Several tugboats began pulling the 106,000-ton ship around 7 a.m. Monday, officials said. The ship traveled about 1 mph to the Seagirt Marine Terminal in Baltimore.

By late Monday morning, the Dali was docked at the terminal – the same place from which it departed on its ill-fated voyage nearly eight weeks ago.

There, the ship will undergo any necessary temporary repairs before more permanent repairs can be made, officials said.

Federal authorities are still investigating why the freighter lost power, veered off course and crashed into the Key Bridge on March 26, killing six construction workers.

But the removal of the Dali from the site of destruction means authorities will soon be able to open more channels to and from the Port of Baltimore – a key hub for trade, particularly for the sugar and automobile industries at the national scale.

“We have been ahead of schedule in terms of opening our channels,” said U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Kate Newkirk told CNN affiliate WBAL over the weekend.

“We plan to open a 400-foot by 50-foot channel (Monday) and hopefully by next week we’ll be in that 700-foot channel, which is our goal.”

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said he expects the main federal canal blocked by rubble to reopen by the end of the month.

“I’m proud that we’re on the right track,” Moore said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “By the end of May, this federal channel will be reopened.”

Several investigations are underway to try to determine who could be responsible for this catastrophic accident. Last month, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott announced an investigation “to hold wrongdoers accountable and mitigate the immediate and long-term harm” caused to residents.

The ship’s Singaporean owner, Grace Ocean Private Limited, and its manager, Synergy Marine PTE LTD, filed an application in federal court last month seeking a $43.6 million limit on potential liability awards.

The city of Baltimore asked the court to reject this request.

The FBI, U.S. Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board are also investigating.

Last week, the NTSB released a preliminary report indicating that the Dali had two electrical outages minutes before the collision, as well as two power outages while the ship was in port a day earlier. One of those port power outages was caused by crew error, according to the report.

The FBI and Coast Guard are investigating whether the crew failed to report the power outage in port, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter.

The Dali’s 21 crew members have been confined on board the ship since March 26 and will likely remain on board “for the foreseeable future,” the ship’s management company said.

There is no immediate plan for what the 20 Indian crew members and one Sri Lankan will do after the Dali moves Monday, said Barbara Shipley, mid-Atlantic union representative for the International Federation of transport workers.

The seafarers’ one-month visas expired during the nearly two months they were stuck on board, according to one of the unions representing crew members.

The sailors have been without their cellphones for more than a month because the FBI confiscated the devices as part of their ongoing investigation, Shipley said.

“It is important to bring these gentlemen home to their families,” she said.

But international maritime regulations require the ship to have personnel on board. Shipley hopes officials will prioritize which of the men can return home and which must stay put.

Even though the sailors were stuck on board, they did not sit idly by. They played a vital role in keeping the ship running and helping salvage crews navigate the boat, said Darrell Wilson, a spokesman for Synergy Marine Group – the company that manages the Dali vessel.

Synergy provided mental health services to sailors grappling with the deaths of the six construction workers killed in the accident.

“It has been difficult for seafarers, mainly because they know there has been loss of life,” said Gwee Guo Duan, deputy general secretary of the Singapore Maritime Officers’ Union, one unions representing the crew members of the Singaporean ship. flagged vessel.

“It’s hard for them to be on board and have to inspect the accident site every day.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNN’s Amanda Musa, Zoe Sottile, Chris Boyette, Nicole Grether, Gloria Pazmino and Jillian Sykes contributed to this report.