BALTIMORE — Engineers are contemplating the possibility of clearing a single lane of Baltimore’s shipping channel in an attempt to get shipping moving back in to the city’s port before all wreckage from the fallen Francis Scott Key Bridge is removed.
US Army Corps of Engineers Col. Estee S. Pichasin said the north edge of the channel opposite from the south side where the damaged container ship Dali is stranded may provide an opportunity to move debris that is not complicated by being tangled with the ship.
"As we get deeper into the channel on that far side, and clear deeper wreckage from the far side of the channel, were hoping to be able to traffic larger vessels through, said Pichasin on Wednesday.
The Dali blocks only a portion of the 50-foot deep channel on one side. The channel is wide enough for two ships to pass, if debris is removed from the far side, Pichasin said.
She did not provide a time estimate for a partial reopening, nor did she commit to the possibility as a final plan.
While the largest ships require a 50-foot deep channel, many smaller ships, including roll-on-roll-off car carriers critical to the import and export of autos and farm machinery, require only 35 feet, and could begin accessing the port with a partial reopening, according to William Doyle, the CEO of The Dredging Contractors of America.
US Coast Guard Rear Admiral Shannon N. Gilreath said Wednesday that preparations are underway to begin unloading cargo containers from the Dali to accelerate efforts to untangle the ship from the bridge debris resting on it.
“We are staged to begin lift the first of those undamaged containers off the bow of the ship,” Gilreath said.
“We need to lift those undamaged containers off to give us space to safely operate to begin to plan to remove portions of the bridge that are also now embedded into the ship.”
Seven heavy cranes are now on the site or staged nearby.
Two shallow side channels now marked by the US Coast Guard are allowing limited barge traffic to access the port. The channels are 11-feet and 14-feet deep respectively, which is not enough to accommodate oceangoing ships.
Doyle said contractors could dredge one of those side channels to 20 feet relatively quickly, which would allow deeper drafting barges to carry containers to and from other regional ports like Norfolk and Philadelphia, which would be likely provide relief to some shippers.
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