The cargo ship that struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore nearly two months ago was moved from the crash site for the first time on Monday morning, clearing the way for ships to resume travel through the Port of Baltimore.
The Dali, a 984-foot-long and 158-foot-wide container ship, had been partially blocking the entrance to one of America’s busiest ports since the March 26 collision that triggered a catastrophic collapse of the bridge and killed six workers.
Tugboats maneuver the damaged container ship Dali through the Port of Baltimore and into the Seagirt Marine Terminal, May 20, 2024, in Baltimore, Md.
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Francis Scott Key Bridge is seen after the cargo ship ‘Dali’ was moved to the Seagirt Marine Terminal at the Port of Baltimore in Baltimore, Md, May 20, 2024.
Army Corps of Engineers
Five tugboats and other support vessels towed the Dali for 2.5 miles Monday morning. The journey took two hours to go from the bridge site to a local marine terminal, according to the Key Bridge Response Unified Command.
“This marks the resumption of commercial vessel transits in and out of the Port of Baltimore,” the Unified Command said in a statement Monday. “This truly signifies the next chapter in restoring the waterway commerce in this region.”
The damaged container ship Dali is maneuvered into the Seagirt Marine Terminal, May 20, 2024, in Baltimore, Md.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
The damaged container ship Dali is maneuvered into the Seagirt Marine Terminal, May 20, 2024, in Baltimore, Md.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Crews are continuing to remove remaining wreckage from the crash site at the Francis Key Scott Bridge, which had been turned into a tangle of steel girders that rested on the seafloor and rose out of the water.
A section of the Francis Scott Key Bridge rests in the water next to the Dali container ship in Baltimore on May 13, 2024, after crews conducted a controlled demolition.
Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images
The operational width of the channel is expected to be 400 feet wide soon, and the wreckage removal process will continue until the “channel is restored to its original width of 700 feet and all steel below the mudline is removed,” the unified command said.
Cruises are also returning to Baltimore. Royal Caribbean will be the first cruise to depart the Port of Baltimore on May 26, according to port officials.