‘Claw’ tackles Baltimore wreckage as first containership arrives

The first inbound containership to call at the Port of Baltimore since the March 26 bridge collapse arrived Sunday, as salvors prepared for a big push to remove wreckage and the stranded 985’ Dali blocking the main channel.

 On Sunday workers prepared Donjon Marine’s Chesapeake 1000 heavy lift sheerleg crane ship  to use the HSWC500-1000 – a heavy duty hydraulic salvage grab. The crane has hoisted sections of the down Francis Scott Key Bridge, weighing as much as 560 tons. Army Corps of Engineers officials estimate another 50,000 tons of debris need to be moved.

The MSC Passion III was the first containership to arrive at Baltimore's Seagirt Terminal since the Dali crashed into the Key Bridge a month before. The Passion III transited a 35’ deep temporary channel that only opened April 25, allowing several vessels stranded by the bridge collapse to finally depart.

About 1,000 containers offloaded at the terminal put 80 longshoremen to work, according to Port of Baltimore officials.

As previously planned, the 35’ channel was closed by the Coast Guard at 6 a.m. Monday, as the recovery effort focused on “recovery, salvage and removal of the Dali from the main channel,” according to a port statement. With that underway, the channel is not expected to be open again until around May 10, they said.

In the meantime three shallow-draft channels for tug and barge operations will remain open. The Army Corps of Engineers expects to reopen the 50’ deep, 700’ wide federal channel by the end of May.