Rescuers are continuing to remove the collapsed debris from the Francis Scott Key Bridge after it was struck by the container ship Dali, currently docked at Baltimore’s Seagirt Marine Terminal. (Jerry Jackson/The Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Jerry Jackson | The Baltimore Sun | Getty Images
Main access to the Port of Baltimore has been fully restored following the March 26 collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which killed six people and impeded marine traffic into the port.
In late March, the freighter Dali hit infrastructure, blocking a major shipping artery to the busiest U.S. auto port and causing the bridge to collapse.
The Port of Baltimore handled a record 1.1 million containers and $80.8 billion worth of foreign cargo last year. According to national data. In the accident, six highway construction workers who were doing road construction at night fell to their deaths.
Monday night, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers explain The Fort McHenry Federal Channel has been restored to its original operating dimensions, 700 feet wide and 50 feet deep, for commercial shipping through the Port of Baltimore.
“We have cleared the federal channel at Fort McHenry to ensure safe passage,” Baltimore Sector Commander Col. Estee Pinchasin said in a statement. “The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will maintain this important waterway as it has for the past 107 years.”
The repair work follows a cleanup that began on March 30 and removed approximately 50,000 tons of bridge debris from the Patapsco River, allowing the waterway to gradually reopen over several weeks.
On May 20, authorities successfully refloated and removed the 300-meter-long (984-foot) Dali, which had been stranded under the wreckage for nearly two months.
The vessel is chartered by Danish shipping giant MaerskThe plane was flying from Sri Lanka to Baltimore when it “lost power and propulsion and struck the southern pier supporting the center truss span of the Francis Scott Key Bridge,” according to a report. preliminary investigation report National Transportation Safety Board.
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