BALTIMORE — The U.S. Coast Guard has opened a temporary, alternate channel for vessels involved in the clearing of debris at the site of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, part of a phased approach to opening the main channel leading to the vital port, officials said Monday.
Crews are undertaking the complicated work of removing steel and concrete at the site of the bridge’s deadly collapse into the Patapsco River after a container ship lost power and crashed into a supporting column. On Sunday, dive teams surveyed parts of the bridge and checked the ship, and workers in lifts used torches to cut above-water parts of the twisted steel superstructure.
Officials said the temporary channel is open primarily to vessels that are helping with the cleanup effort. Some barges and tugs that have been stuck in the Port of Baltimore since the collapse are also scheduled to pass through the channel on their way out of the harbor.
Authorities believe four workers plunged to their deaths in the collapse.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said at a Monday afternoon news conference that his top priority is recovering the four bodies, followed by reopening shipping channels to the port. He said he understands the urgency but that the risks are significant. He said crews have described the mangled steel of the fallen bridge as “chaotic wreckage.”
“We have to move fast, but we cannot be careless,” he said.
U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath said divers examining the steel girders beneath the surface found them tangled and intertwined, making it difficult to figure out how to cut and lift them out of the water.
“What we’re finding is it is more complicated than we hoped for initially,” Gilreath said.
Moore said crews used a large crane to lift a 200-ton span of the bridge, a task that took 10 hours. He said the piece was considered a “relatively small lift” compared to what’s to come.
“The scale of this project, to be clear, it is enormous, and even the small lifts are huge,” he said.
Moore said crews will lift another 350-ton piece from the bridge later Monday as weather allows.
Officials earlier said the temporary channel would have a controlling depth of 11 feet, a horizontal clearance of 264 feet and a vertical clearance of 96 feet.
“This marks an important first step along the road to reopening the port of Baltimore,” Capt. David O’Connell, the federal on-scene coordinator of the response, said in a statement Monday. “By opening this alternate route, we will support the flow of marine traffic into Baltimore.”
Two additional larger channels are planned as more debris is removed from the waterway, which officials said would allow more maritime traffic to resume. They declined to provide a projected timeline for those channels being opened.
Earlier Monday, the governor and other state and local leaders met with members of the International Longshoremen’s Association Local 333, which represents port workers whose jobs could dry up while shipping is suspended.
President Joe Biden will visit the collapse site Friday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced Monday. He will meet with state and local officials and get an “on-the-ground look” at federal response efforts, Jean-Pierre said.
Moore said he expects the president will leave with a better understanding of the task at hand.
“He’s going to see the fact that we have a ship that is almost the size of the Eiffel Tower, that weighs about as much as the Washington Monument, that’s in the middle of the Patapsco River,” Moore said. “He’s going to see a bridge that has been in existence since I was alive — I don’t know what that skyline looks like without the Key bridge — and he is going to come and he’s going to see it sitting on top of a ship.”
Also Monday, the Small Business Administration opened two centers in the area to help companies get loans to assist them with losses caused by the disruption of the bridge collapse.
Yvette Jeffery, a spokesperson for the agency’s disaster recovery office, said affected businesses can receive loans for as much as $2 million. She said the effects could range from supply-chain challenges to decreased foot traffic in communities that depended heavily on the bridge.
The bridge fell as the crew of the cargo ship Dali lost power and control March 26. They called in a mayday, which allowed just enough time for police to stop vehicles from driving onto the bridge, but not enough time to get a crew of eight workers off the structure.
Two workers survived, two bodies were found in a submerged pickup, and four more men are presumed dead. Weather conditions and the tangled debris underwater have made it too dangerous for divers to search for their bodies.
The Dali is managed by Synergy Marine Group and owned by Grace Ocean Private Ltd., both of Singapore. Danish shipping giant Maersk chartered the Dali, which was on its way out of port when it lost power.
Synergy and Grace Ocean filed a court petition Monday seeking to limit their legal liability. It is a routine but important procedure for cases litigated under U.S. maritime law. A federal court in Maryland will ultimately decide who is responsible and how much they owe.
The filing seeks to cap the companies’ liability at roughly $43.6 million. It estimates that the vessel itself is valued at up to $90 million and was carrying freight worth over $1.1 million in income for the companies. The estimate also deducts two major expenses: at least $28 million in repairs and at least $19.5 million in salvage.
Along with clearing the shipping channel to reopen the port, officials are trying to determine how to rebuild the major bridge, which was completed in 1977. It carried Interstate 695 around southeast Baltimore and became a symbol of the city’s working-class roots and maritime culture.
The operators of the Dali cargo ship issued a mayday call that the vessel had lost power moments before the crash, but the ship still headed toward the span at “a very, very rapid speed," Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said.
The 985-foot-long vessel struck one of the 1.6-mile bridge’s supports, causing the span to break and fall into the water within seconds.
Six construction workers who were filling potholes on the bridge were still missing Tuesday afternoon and presumed dead. Jeffrey Pritzker, executive vice president of Brawner Builders, said they were working in the middle of the span when it came apart.
An inspection of the Dali last June at a port in Chile identified a problem with the ship’s “propulsion and auxiliary machinery,” according to Equasis, a shipping information system. The deficiency involved gauges and thermometers, but the website’s online records didn’t elaborate.
The most recent inspection listed for the Dali was conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard in New York in September. The “standard examination” didn’t identify any deficiencies, according to the Equasis data.
The ship was moving at 8 knots, which is roughly 9 mph.
Given the vessel’s massive weight, it struck the bridge support with significant force, said Roberto Leon, a Virginia Tech engineering professor.
“The only way the post can resist it is by bending,” Leon said. “But it cannot absorb anywhere near the energy that this humongous ship is bringing. So it’s going to break.”
Last June, federal inspectors rated the 47-year-old bridge in fair condition. But the structure did not appear to have pier protection to withstand the crash, experts said.
“If a bridge pier without adequate protection is hit by a ship of this size, there is very little that the bridge could do,” Leon said.
Pictured: A container rests against wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, as seen from Sparrows Point, Md. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Two people were rescued, but officials said six people were still unaccounted for and presumed dead. All were believed to be part of a construction crew that was repairing potholes on the bridge.
The six missing people were part of a construction crew filling potholes on the bridge, said Paul Wiedefeld, the state's transportation secretary.
Guatemala’s consulate in Maryland said in a statement that two were Guatemalan citizens working on the bridge. It did not provide their names but said consular officials were in contact with local authorities and assisting the families.
A senior executive at the company that employed the workers also said, in the afternoon, that the workers were presumed dead given the water’s depth and how much time had passed.
Jeffrey Pritzker, executive vice president of Brawner Builders, said the crew was working in the middle of the bridge when it came down.
“This was so completely unforeseen,” Pritzker said. “We don’t know what else to say. We take such great pride in safety, and we have cones and signs and lights and barriers and flaggers."
Multiple vehicles also fell into the water, although authorities don't think anyone was inside them.
The ship is owned by Singapore-based Grace Ocean Private Ltd., which said all crew members, including the two pilots, were accounted for and there were no reports of injuries.
The ship's warning enabled authorities to limit vehicle traffic on the span. Plus, the accident occurred at 1:30 a.m., long before the busy morning rush. The bridge carried an estimated 30,800 vehicles a day on average in 2019.
Pictured: Boats move near a container ship as it rests against wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, as seen from Dundalk, Md. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
The collapse will almost surely create a logistical nightmare for months, if not years, in the region, shutting down ship traffic at the Port of Baltimore, a major shipping hub. The accident will also snarl cargo and commuter traffic.
The port is a major East Coast hub for shipping. The bridge spans the Patapsco River, which massive cargo ships use to reach the Chesapeake Bay and then the Atlantic Ocean.
The Dali was headed from Baltimore to Colombo, Sri Lanka, and flying under a Singapore flag, according to data from Marine Traffic.
President Joe Biden said Tuesday that he plans to travel to Baltimore “as quickly as I can” and that he expects the federal government to pick up the entire cost of rebuilding the bridge.
The collapse, however, is not likely to have a big effect on worldwide trade because Baltimore is not a major port for container vessels, but the port’s facilities are more important when it comes to goods such as farm equipment and autos, said Judah Levine, head of research for global freight booking platform Freightos.
Leon, the Virginia Tech professor, said lessons can be learned and improvements can be made following this disaster. For example, bridge cameras and sensors can be used to track when a cargo ship heads off course and communicate with traffic lights and gates at bridge entrances.
“I think that our mission now is to learn from this failure and learn at all levels,” Leon said.
Pictured: Parts of the Francis Scott Key Bridge remain after a container ship collided with one of the bridge’s support Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Baltimore. (WJLA via AP)
From 1960 to 2015, there were 35 major bridge collapses worldwide due to ship or barge collisions, with a total of 342 people killed, according to a 2018 report from the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure.
Eighteen of those collapses happened in the United States.
Among them were a 2002 incident in which a barge struck the Interstate 40 bridge over the Arkansas River at Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, sending vehicles plunging into the water. Fourteen people died and 11 were injured.
And in 2001, a tugboat and barge struck the Queen Isabella Causeway in Port Isabel, Texas, causing a section of the bridge to tumble 80 feet into the bay below. Eight people were killed.
Pictured: A cargo ship is stuck under the part of the structure of the Francis Scott Key Bridge after the ship hit the bridge Tuesday, March 26, 2024, in Baltimore, Md. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
March 20, 2009: A vessel pushing eight barges rammed into the Popp's Ferry Bridge in Biloxi, Mississippi, resulting in a 150-foot section of the bridge collapsing into the bay.
INTERSTATE 40 BRIDGE: 14 DEAD
May 26, 2002: A barge hit the Interstate 40 bridge over the Arkansas River at Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, collapsing a 500-foot section of road and plunging vehicles into the water. Fourteen people died and 11 were injured.
QUEEN ISABELLA CAUSEWAY: 8 DEAD
Sept. 15, 2001: A tugboat and barge struck the Queen Isabella Causeway in Port Isabel, Texas, causing a midsection of the bridge to tumble 80 feet into the bay below. Eight people died after motorists drove into the hole.
EADS BRIDGE: 50 INJURED
April 14, 1998: The Anne Holly tow traveling through the St. Louis Harbor rammed into the center span of the Eads Bridge. Eight barges broke away. Three of them hit a permanently moored gambling vessel below the bridge. Fifty people suffered minor injuries.
BIG BAYOU CANOT: 47 DEAD
Sept. 22, 1993: Barges being pushed by a towboat in dense fog hit and displaced the Big Bayou Canot railroad bridge near Mobile, Alabama. Minutes later, an Amtrak train with 220 people aboard reached the displaced bridge and derailed, killing 47 people and injuring 103 people.
SEEBER BRIDGE: 1 DEAD
May 28, 1993: The towboat Chris, pushing the empty hopper barge DM3021, hit a support tier of the Judge William Seeber Bridge in New Orleans. Two spans and the two-column bent collapsed onto the barge. Two cars carrying three people fell with the four-lane bridge deck into a canal. One person died and two people were seriously injured.
SUNSHINE SKYWAY BRIDGE: 35 DEAD
May 9, 1980: The 609-foot freighter Summit Venture was navigating through the narrow, winding shipping channel of Florida’s Tampa Bay when a sudden, blinding squall knocked out the ship’s radar. The ship sheared off a support of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, dropping a 1,400-foot section of concrete roadway during the morning rush hour. Seven vehicles, including a bus with 26 aboard, fell 150 feet into the water. Thirty-five people died.
Pictured: This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows the overview of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Md., on May 6, 2023. A container ship lost power and rammed into the bridge Tuesday, March 26, 2024, causing the span to buckle into the river below. (Maxaar Technologies via AP)
The bridge that collapsed into a Maryland river after a ship strike Tuesday was iconic — erected almost five decades ago, named after the author of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and part of the very fabric of Baltimore.
Built near the spot where Francis Scott Key witnessed the bombardment of a fort that inspired what would become America’s national anthem, the namesake bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River after being struck by a cargo ship that reported losing power just before the crash. Rescue crews were looking for the bodies of six people who remained unaccounted for Tuesday afternoon and were presumed dead.
“The words ‘the Key Bridge is gone,’ it's still sinking in,” said Maryland Gov. Wes Moore. “For 47 years, that's all we've known. It's not just unprecedented; it's heartbreaking.”
Designed as an outer crossing of the Baltimore Harbor, the 1.6-mile bridge opened on March 23, 1977, as the final link in Interstate 695, known locally as the Baltimore Beltway.
The bridge was built within 100 yards of where Key witnessed the British bombardment of Fort McHenry on Sept. 12, 1814, according to the Maryland Transportation Authority.
Key stood on the deck of an American ship in the Patapsco and watched Britain's 25-hour assault on the fort. The raising of the American flag afterward inspired him to write the poem “The Defense of Fort M’Henry," according to the National Parks Service. Set to music, it became the national anthem in 1931.
Anita Kassof, executive director of the Baltimore Museum of Industry, said the choice of Key as the bridge's namesake honors the city's toughness and perseverance in the face of tragedy.
“'The Star-Spangled Banner' is an anthem to American resiliency, and Baltimore is a very resilient city,” she said. “We've been through a lot and we've gotten through a lot, and we'll get through this, too.”
Pictured: A container ship passes under the Francis Scott Key bridge Feb. 26, 2005, as it steams up the Chesapeake Bay toward the Port of Baltimore. (AP Photo/Chris Gardner)
The operators of the Dali cargo ship issued a mayday call that the vessel had lost power moments before the crash, but the ship still headed toward the span at “a very, very rapid speed," Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said.
The 985-foot-long vessel struck one of the 1.6-mile bridge’s supports, causing the span to break and fall into the water within seconds.
Six construction workers who were filling potholes on the bridge were still missing Tuesday afternoon and presumed dead. Jeffrey Pritzker, executive vice president of Brawner Builders, said they were working in the middle of the span when it came apart.
An inspection of the Dali last June at a port in Chile identified a problem with the ship’s “propulsion and auxiliary machinery,” according to Equasis, a shipping information system. The deficiency involved gauges and thermometers, but the website’s online records didn’t elaborate.
The most recent inspection listed for the Dali was conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard in New York in September. The “standard examination” didn’t identify any deficiencies, according to the Equasis data.
The ship was moving at 8 knots, which is roughly 9 mph.
Given the vessel’s massive weight, it struck the bridge support with significant force, said Roberto Leon, a Virginia Tech engineering professor.
“The only way the post can resist it is by bending,” Leon said. “But it cannot absorb anywhere near the energy that this humongous ship is bringing. So it’s going to break.”
Last June, federal inspectors rated the 47-year-old bridge in fair condition. But the structure did not appear to have pier protection to withstand the crash, experts said.
“If a bridge pier without adequate protection is hit by a ship of this size, there is very little that the bridge could do,” Leon said.
Pictured: A container rests against wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, as seen from Sparrows Point, Md. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Two people were rescued, but officials said six people were still unaccounted for and presumed dead. All were believed to be part of a construction crew that was repairing potholes on the bridge.
The six missing people were part of a construction crew filling potholes on the bridge, said Paul Wiedefeld, the state's transportation secretary.
Guatemala’s consulate in Maryland said in a statement that two were Guatemalan citizens working on the bridge. It did not provide their names but said consular officials were in contact with local authorities and assisting the families.
A senior executive at the company that employed the workers also said, in the afternoon, that the workers were presumed dead given the water’s depth and how much time had passed.
Jeffrey Pritzker, executive vice president of Brawner Builders, said the crew was working in the middle of the bridge when it came down.
“This was so completely unforeseen,” Pritzker said. “We don’t know what else to say. We take such great pride in safety, and we have cones and signs and lights and barriers and flaggers."
Multiple vehicles also fell into the water, although authorities don't think anyone was inside them.
The ship is owned by Singapore-based Grace Ocean Private Ltd., which said all crew members, including the two pilots, were accounted for and there were no reports of injuries.
The ship's warning enabled authorities to limit vehicle traffic on the span. Plus, the accident occurred at 1:30 a.m., long before the busy morning rush. The bridge carried an estimated 30,800 vehicles a day on average in 2019.
Pictured: Boats move near a container ship as it rests against wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, as seen from Dundalk, Md. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
The collapse will almost surely create a logistical nightmare for months, if not years, in the region, shutting down ship traffic at the Port of Baltimore, a major shipping hub. The accident will also snarl cargo and commuter traffic.
The port is a major East Coast hub for shipping. The bridge spans the Patapsco River, which massive cargo ships use to reach the Chesapeake Bay and then the Atlantic Ocean.
The Dali was headed from Baltimore to Colombo, Sri Lanka, and flying under a Singapore flag, according to data from Marine Traffic.
President Joe Biden said Tuesday that he plans to travel to Baltimore “as quickly as I can” and that he expects the federal government to pick up the entire cost of rebuilding the bridge.
The collapse, however, is not likely to have a big effect on worldwide trade because Baltimore is not a major port for container vessels, but the port’s facilities are more important when it comes to goods such as farm equipment and autos, said Judah Levine, head of research for global freight booking platform Freightos.
Leon, the Virginia Tech professor, said lessons can be learned and improvements can be made following this disaster. For example, bridge cameras and sensors can be used to track when a cargo ship heads off course and communicate with traffic lights and gates at bridge entrances.
“I think that our mission now is to learn from this failure and learn at all levels,” Leon said.
Pictured: Parts of the Francis Scott Key Bridge remain after a container ship collided with one of the bridge’s support Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Baltimore. (WJLA via AP)
TEL
From 1960 to 2015, there were 35 major bridge collapses worldwide due to ship or barge collisions, with a total of 342 people killed, according to a 2018 report from the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure.
Eighteen of those collapses happened in the United States.
Among them were a 2002 incident in which a barge struck the Interstate 40 bridge over the Arkansas River at Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, sending vehicles plunging into the water. Fourteen people died and 11 were injured.
And in 2001, a tugboat and barge struck the Queen Isabella Causeway in Port Isabel, Texas, causing a section of the bridge to tumble 80 feet into the bay below. Eight people were killed.
Pictured: A cargo ship is stuck under the part of the structure of the Francis Scott Key Bridge after the ship hit the bridge Tuesday, March 26, 2024, in Baltimore, Md. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
POPP'S FERRY BRIDGE
March 20, 2009: A vessel pushing eight barges rammed into the Popp's Ferry Bridge in Biloxi, Mississippi, resulting in a 150-foot section of the bridge collapsing into the bay.
INTERSTATE 40 BRIDGE: 14 DEAD
May 26, 2002: A barge hit the Interstate 40 bridge over the Arkansas River at Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, collapsing a 500-foot section of road and plunging vehicles into the water. Fourteen people died and 11 were injured.
QUEEN ISABELLA CAUSEWAY: 8 DEAD
Sept. 15, 2001: A tugboat and barge struck the Queen Isabella Causeway in Port Isabel, Texas, causing a midsection of the bridge to tumble 80 feet into the bay below. Eight people died after motorists drove into the hole.
EADS BRIDGE: 50 INJURED
April 14, 1998: The Anne Holly tow traveling through the St. Louis Harbor rammed into the center span of the Eads Bridge. Eight barges broke away. Three of them hit a permanently moored gambling vessel below the bridge. Fifty people suffered minor injuries.
BIG BAYOU CANOT: 47 DEAD
Sept. 22, 1993: Barges being pushed by a towboat in dense fog hit and displaced the Big Bayou Canot railroad bridge near Mobile, Alabama. Minutes later, an Amtrak train with 220 people aboard reached the displaced bridge and derailed, killing 47 people and injuring 103 people.
SEEBER BRIDGE: 1 DEAD
May 28, 1993: The towboat Chris, pushing the empty hopper barge DM3021, hit a support tier of the Judge William Seeber Bridge in New Orleans. Two spans and the two-column bent collapsed onto the barge. Two cars carrying three people fell with the four-lane bridge deck into a canal. One person died and two people were seriously injured.
SUNSHINE SKYWAY BRIDGE: 35 DEAD
May 9, 1980: The 609-foot freighter Summit Venture was navigating through the narrow, winding shipping channel of Florida’s Tampa Bay when a sudden, blinding squall knocked out the ship’s radar. The ship sheared off a support of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, dropping a 1,400-foot section of concrete roadway during the morning rush hour. Seven vehicles, including a bus with 26 aboard, fell 150 feet into the water. Thirty-five people died.
Pictured: This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows the overview of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Md., on May 6, 2023. A container ship lost power and rammed into the bridge Tuesday, March 26, 2024, causing the span to buckle into the river below. (Maxaar Technologies via AP)
The bridge that collapsed into a Maryland river after a ship strike Tuesday was iconic — erected almost five decades ago, named after the author of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and part of the very fabric of Baltimore.
Built near the spot where Francis Scott Key witnessed the bombardment of a fort that inspired what would become America’s national anthem, the namesake bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River after being struck by a cargo ship that reported losing power just before the crash. Rescue crews were looking for the bodies of six people who remained unaccounted for Tuesday afternoon and were presumed dead.
“The words ‘the Key Bridge is gone,’ it's still sinking in,” said Maryland Gov. Wes Moore. “For 47 years, that's all we've known. It's not just unprecedented; it's heartbreaking.”
Designed as an outer crossing of the Baltimore Harbor, the 1.6-mile bridge opened on March 23, 1977, as the final link in Interstate 695, known locally as the Baltimore Beltway.
The bridge was built within 100 yards of where Key witnessed the British bombardment of Fort McHenry on Sept. 12, 1814, according to the Maryland Transportation Authority.
Key stood on the deck of an American ship in the Patapsco and watched Britain's 25-hour assault on the fort. The raising of the American flag afterward inspired him to write the poem “The Defense of Fort M’Henry," according to the National Parks Service. Set to music, it became the national anthem in 1931.
Anita Kassof, executive director of the Baltimore Museum of Industry, said the choice of Key as the bridge's namesake honors the city's toughness and perseverance in the face of tragedy.
“'The Star-Spangled Banner' is an anthem to American resiliency, and Baltimore is a very resilient city,” she said. “We've been through a lot and we've gotten through a lot, and we'll get through this, too.”
Pictured: A container ship passes under the Francis Scott Key bridge Feb. 26, 2005, as it steams up the Chesapeake Bay toward the Port of Baltimore. (AP Photo/Chris Gardner)
The fallen Francis Scott Key Bridge is pictured Sunday in Baltimore where divers assisted crews with the complicated and meticulous operation of removing steel and concrete.