Baltimore shipping channel expected to fully open this weekend after months of cleanup

After months of cleanup and the use of temporary channels, Baltimore’s 50-foot deep, 700-foot wide shipping channel is expected to fully reopen this weekend and potentially as soon as Saturday.

When the Dali crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, it sent 50,000 tons of debris into the Patapsco River, blocking the channel and necessitating a lengthy effort to cut up and remove steel and roadway from the water. The channel initially was expected to be open by the end of May, but authorities later revised the target to June 8-10.

U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. Baxter Smoak said Friday that the channel will be open Saturday or Sunday, depending upon the results of a survey of the channel.

The waterway reopening will not necessarily mean an immediate influx of huge ships. Large vessels were able to come through en route to and from the Port of Baltimore in recent weeks, using a narrower, temporary channel, but now the channel will be completely open.

“With the 700-foot channel, we’re back to where we were pre-collapse,” Smoak said.

Typically, about 200 deep-draft vessels (ships that require use of Baltimore’s deepest channel) come to Baltimore each month, but that traffic was stalled by the bridge collapse. Since April 1, there have been about 150 such ships that have used a temporary channel to reach the port.

Tugboats moved the Dali from the wreckage site last month and it remains at the port’s Seagirt Marine Terminal as crews remove debris from the ship. The vessel will not be fully unloaded in Baltimore, as shipping containers are needed to weigh the vessel down so it can fit under the Bay Bridge. It will transit to Norfolk, Virginia, in mid- to late June for further repairs.

The ship will be accompanied by tugboats for the entire trip. It’s not yet known whether the ship will be able to operate under its own power.

“Worst-case scenario, she’ll be towed all the way there,” Smoak said. “Best-case scenario, she’ll be towed there but have the use of her power to assist in that transit to, hopefully, speed it up.”

In Norfolk, the Dali will be unloaded and receive additional repairs before likely heading to a dry dock outside of the U.S. for more permanent fixes.