DUNDALK, Md. — Some major progress in getting the port of Baltimore back to business.
In a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore announced crews are on track to open a third and deeper channel near the Key Bridge by the end of April. That should make way for larger ships like marine tugs and some cargo ships.
The governor also said they are on track to reopen port access by the end of May. That is certainly good news for the 8,000 port workers in Baltimore. The new channel will be 35 feet deep, which is an accomplishment considering what lies on the floor of the Patapsco River.
Earlier Wednesday, the U.S. Navy released sonar images showing the wreckage of the Key Bridge in the deepest part of the federal shipping channel. Right now, most of the progress is happening above the water line.
Crews with the Army Corps of Engineers are cutting pieces of the steel span and are making progress toward eventually moving the ship. Gov. Moore said opening two temporary channels a week ago was a critical step forward.
"As of this morning, there have been 58 commercial movements throughout those channels but let's be clear even with those 58 movements we're only at 15% of what vessel traffic looked like before the collapse," Moore said.
Six people lost their lives two weeks ago when the bridge collapsed after the ship "Dali" lost steering power and slammed into the pier. Three bodies are believed to still be in the wreckage.
The investigation into the collapse also took center stage on Capitol Hill. National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy appeared before a Senate Committee for her reconfirmation hearing. She gave senators an update on the investigation.
"Our investigative team is on the vessel as we speak,” Homendy testified Wednesday morning. “We downloaded the VDR voice data recorder on scene and we removed the VDR in order to download the last 30 days in our lab.”
NTSB investigators are also looking into the ship's electrical system and circuit breakers. So far, they have interviewed 15 people including the pilot. Their preliminary report is expected the first week of May.