The temporary channel linking the Port of Baltimore to the Atlantic ocean closed on Monday, after the first container ship arrived at the Seagirt Terminal since the Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster more than a month ago.
The port of Baltimore said the 2,872-teu MSC Passion III (built 2008) was able to reach the terminal through a temporary channel set up by authorities to allow traffic to circumvent the bridge wreckage and salvage operations.
Until the channel was open on Thursday, the terminal had been cut off from deep-draught shipping traffic since the 9,962-teu container ship Dali (built 2015) slammed into a pillar on 26 March, destroying the bridge and killing six people.
The port said on X that 80 workers unloaded about 1,000 containers from the MSC Passion III.
“We’re getting there,” the port said on Sunday.
By the next day, the port said the four-day window to bring a ship through the 10.7-metre-deep channel was over.
The US Coast Guard closed the temporary channel early Monday morning, and it will not be reopened until 10 May, although three shallower channels will remain available.
“The focus is on recovery, salvage and removal of the Dali from the main channel,” the port said.
Tracking data from VesselsValue shows the MSC Passion III was able to depart before the closure.
The main 15.2-metre channel that connects Baltimore to the Atlantic is expected to reopen in late May.
Read more
- ‘We are killing people unnecessarily’: Is this shipping’s Boeing-style wake-up call?
- Small general cargo ship becomes first to transit Baltimore channel after bridge collapse
- Four seafarers missing after cargo ship hits bridge in China
- Baltimore mayor alleges negligence in first legal claim in bridge collapse case
- Baltimore mayor throws down legal gauntlet against Dali owner, manager, charterer and builder
