BALTIMORE (AP) — The first cargo ship crossed a newly opened deep-water channel in Baltimore on Thursday after being stuck in the port since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed four weeks ago, halting most shipping traffic crossing the city port.
The Balsa 94, a Panama-flagged bulk carrier, crossed the new 35-foot (12-meter) channel en route to St. John, Canada.
His trip marked a milestone in ongoing cleanup and recovery efforts, as salvage teams worked around the clock to clear thousands of tons of mangled steel and concrete from the entrance to the port of Baltimore.
The ship is one of five stranded vessels expected to use the new temporary canal, including a loaded car carrier. More ships are expected to enter the port, which normally handles more cars and agricultural equipment than any other port in the country.
Thursday morning, the ship crossed the channel guided by two tugs, one in front and one behind. It passed between the red and green buoys marking the canal’s boundaries and glided slowly past the wreckage of the bridge and the grounded Dali, the enormous container ship that caused the collapse when it hit one bridge support columns.
Pieces of the fallen bridge still block other parts of the port’s main channel, which has a control depth of 15 meters, enough to accommodate some of the largest cargo ships and cruise ships. Authorities have prioritized opening a temporary canal deep enough for large commercial ships to pass through in hopes of mitigating the economic impacts of the collapse.
The Balsa 94 is expected to arrive in Canada on Monday.
The Dali lost power and veered off course shortly after leaving Baltimore Port bound for Sri Lanka last month. Six members of a road construction crew – all Latino immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras – plunged to their deaths in the collapse. Four bodies were found in the underwater wreckage while two remain missing.
A memorial for the victims near the south end of the bridge has grown in recent weeks. It now includes six large wooden crosses decorated with flags of the victims’ home countries and other personal items, including hard hats and work boots that allowed them to provide for their families and pursue the American dream . A painted backdrop features abstract scenes of the bridge collapse and rescue efforts, as well as handwritten notes from the men’s loved ones.
“We want to send the message to the world that we are here and we care,” said artist Roberto Marquez, who was visiting the memorial late Thursday morning. “We will stay here to work until they are all recovered.”
The new channel will remain open until Monday or Tuesday. It will close again until around May 10 while crews work to remove steel from the Dali and refloat the ship, which will then be returned to port, officials said earlier this week.
The 35-foot depth represents a substantial increase over the other three temporary canals established in recent weeks. That puts the cleanup efforts slightly ahead of schedule, with officials previously saying they hoped to open a canal of that depth by the end of April.
The port’s main channel is expected to reopen next month after the ship is removed. This will essentially restore maritime traffic to normal.
In a court filing Monday, Baltimore’s mayor and city council demanded that the owner and manager of the Dali be held fully responsible for the bridge’s collapse, which they say could be devastating to the economy regional. They said the port, established before the nation’s founding, has long been an economic engine for Baltimore and surrounding areas. The loss of the bridge itself also disrupted a major trucking route on the East Coast.
Authorities have rolled out a series of assistance programs for port workers and others whose jobs are suffering as a result of the collapse.
The filing follows an earlier petition on behalf of the two companies asking a court to cap their liability under a pre-Civil War provision of an 1851 maritime law — a common procedure for such cases. A federal court in Maryland will ultimately decide who is responsible and how much they owe.
Meanwhile, the FBI and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating what caused the ship to lose power and collide with the bridge.
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