Home World News Dali Finally Removed From Bridge, Baltimore Port Back In Business

Dali Finally Removed From Bridge, Baltimore Port Back In Business

Tugboats led the Dali to a local marine terminal after a successful effort to make the container ship buoyant at about 6:40 a.m. EDT (1040 GMT), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said

BALTIMORE: Two months after it crashed into the Francis Scott Key bridge and caused the span to collapse, recovery teams refloated the huge cargo vessel impeding shipping in the Port of Baltimore early on Monday.

Tugboats led the Dali to a local marine terminal after a successful effort to make the container ship buoyant at about 6:40 a.m. EDT (1040 GMT), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said on social media platform X.

This marks significant step in the Port of Baltimore’s recovery from the boat’s March 26 collision with one of the bridge’s pillars. The bridge’s collapse killed six road workers and hindered traffic through the busiest port for car shipments in the U.S.

President Joe Biden praised the team that freed the ship from its weeks-long imprisonment in a post on X.

“It took the grit of workers and officials coming together to get this done,” Biden said. “That’s Baltimore Strong.”

Maryland Governor Wes Moore said workers were on track to restore full access to the port this month. Meanwhile, authorities have opened four temporary channels to allow some shipping to resume since the bridge collapse.

Crews removed a  a portion of the fallen bridge from the bow of the Dali, using a set off controlled explosions last week. This allowed salvage crews to free the boat for refloating and removal, the Corps of Engineers said.

You can see the damage on the front

Federal investigators said last week that the Dali had lost electrical power several times before crashing into the bridge.

Maryland state officials estimate it will cost $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion to rebuild the bridge. It  anticipates completion by the fall of  2028.

(REUTERS)

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In a career spanning three decades and counting, Ramananda (Ram to his friends) has been the foreign editor of The Telegraph, Outlook Magazine and the New Indian Express. He helped set up rediff.com’s editorial operations in San Jose and New York, helmed sify.com, and was the founder editor of India.com.
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