The only maritime shipping terminal currently operating in the Port of Baltimore is preparing to process an influx of ships as crews continue clearing the mangled wreckage of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge.
Tradepoint Atlantic will unload and process an estimated 10,000 vehicles over the next 15 days, according to a company statement. That includes six regularly scheduled ships and nine others redirected as access to the port’s main terminals remains blocked, posing a logistical nightmare for shipping along the East Coast.
Crews opened a second temporary channel through the collapse site Tuesday, but it’s too shallow for most commercial vessels. The two alternate channels are meant primarily to aid in the cleanup effort. Work continues to open a third channel that will allow larger vessels to pass through the bottleneck and restore more commercial activity, officials said.
Meanwhile, bad weather has hindered salvage operations in recent days. The Patapsco River is also very murky, severely limiting the visibility of divers.
The bridge fell March 26 after being struck by the cargo ship Dali, which lost power shortly after leaving Baltimore, bound for Sri Lanka. The ship issued a mayday alert with just enough time for police to stop traffic, but not enough to save a roadwork crew filling potholes on the bridge.
Authorities believe six of the workers plunged to their deaths in the collapse, including two whose bodies were recovered last week. Two others survived. The ship remains stationary, its 21 crew members still aboard.
Viewed close up from the deck of a Coast Guard boat, the scope of the catastrophe emerged through heavy fog Wednesday afternoon: Massive steel bridge girders were twisted like ribbons while crushed metal shipping containers dangled perilously from the stalled cargo ship. Fallen street lights that once lined the bridge jutted like toothpicks from the water’s surface.
The sheer volume of debris dwarfed even the cranes and barges involved in the cleanup. And that’s only the view from above; officials said underwater conditions are significantly more challenging.
Maryland lawmakers approved a measure to help employees at the Port of Baltimore affected by the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, a decision that came Monday in the waning hours of the 2024 legislative session. The bill authorizes use of the state’s rainy day fund to help port employees who are out of work and aren’t covered under unemployment insurance while the port is closed or partially closed.
The bill also lets the governor use state reserves to help some small businesses avoid laying people off and to encourage companies that relocate to other ports to return to Baltimore when it reopens.
“This is going to make a difference for our workers,” said Sen. Johnny Ray Salling, a Baltimore County Republican.
Moore signed the PORT Act on Monday.
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