The U.S. Coast Guard is taking steps to restore vital maritime shipping around the site of the catastrophic Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore.
Officials announced plans to establish a temporary alternate shipping channel to allow commercial vessels access to the critical Port of Baltimore while crews rush to remove the bridge rubble.
The alternate channel will run northeast of the main shipping lane and provide a controlling depth of 11 feet, a 264-foot horizontal clearance, and 96 feet of vertical clearance based on initial assessments. Coast Guard crews were seen dropping buoys in the area on Sunday to begin demarcating the temporary passage.
“This will mark an important first step along the road to reopening the port of Baltimore,” said Capt. David O’Connell, the federal coordinator overseeing the incident response. “By opening this alternate route, we will support the flow of marine traffic into Baltimore.”
The phased approach aims to mitigate the severe disruption caused when the Francis Scott Key bridge suddenly collapsed into the Patapsco River last week after an out-of-control cargo ship collided with its support columns.
Dive teams surveyed the submerged wreckage over the weekend as crews above worked to cut away sections of the twisted steel superstructure.
The fallen bridge has completely blocked the main shipping channel leading to the Port of Baltimore, a critical economic hub that handles more vehicles, farm equipment and other cargoes than any other U.S. port facility.
With the port’s operations paralyzed, the economic impacts are already mounting for the region.
On Monday, the Small Business Administration will open a disaster loan assistance center in nearby Dundalk to aid small businesses suffering losses from the abrupt closure.
Congress is expected to weigh potential aid packages for workers and companies affected by the prolonged port shutdown.
The bridge’s catastrophic failure came at 1:30 a.m. on March 26th when the cargo ship Dali lost power and steering control, striking the bridge’s support columns
. The impact caused the entire span to abruptly collapse, killing at least two construction workers whose bodies were recovered and leaving four more missing and presumed dead. Two workers were rescued by emergency responders.
In addition to the temporary shipping channel, officials face immense challenges determining how to recover the debris field, locate the missing victims, and ultimately rebuild the vital Interstate 695 bridge that served as a key transportation artery around Baltimore.
With the port closure reverberating across supply chains, the race is on to restore at least partial maritime access to the critical harbor through contingencies like the alternate channel. But the bridge disaster’s full economic and logistical toll may not be realized for months as the subsequent recovery and reconstruction unfolds.
The Horn editorial team