Baltimore Bridge Cargo Ship Moves For First Time in Eight Weeks

The large container ship which allided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge, closing the mouth of the Baltimore Harbour in March was floated off and started its journey to a temporary berth for repairs on Monday.

The Singapore-registered MV Davi moved for the first time since March 26th on Monday after it was refloated off the remains of the Francis Scott Key Bridge pier, bringing the bridge crashing down. Proceeding at less than one mile an hour, the Davi is expected to be alongside at a marine terminal inside Boston Harbour for initial repairs within three hours.

The ship had been trapped under the remains of the bridge, but last week engineers blew demolition charges which had been painstakingly placed over key joints of the truss’s structure in the preceding weeks, bringing the remains down. That wreckage cleared away and an underwater survey for hidden hazards completed, preparations for todays’ move began on Sunday, with tugs put on standby, anchors and lines mooring the ship in place cut, and some of the 1.25 million gallons of water in the ballast pumped out to regain buoyancy.

Tugboats escort the container ship Dali after it was refloated in Baltimore, Monday, May 20, 2024. The container ship that caused the deadly collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge was refloated Monday and has begun slowly moving back to port. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

A section of I-695 is still draped across the bow of the Dali following a planned explosion on May 13, 2024, that cut apart a section of steel truss from the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore. (Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

The move began a little before five-thirty eastern time Monday morning with high tide, and saw a group of tugs pull the MV Davi north. Once alongside, its containers will be removed for forwarding on other ships or else return to their owners, and patching-up repairs will commence. Once those initial repairs are complete, the MV Davi will be moved — either under tug or its own power — to a larger shipbuilding facility where permanent repairs and recommissioning can take place.

Meanwhile, the path to completely reopening Baltimore Harbour after the March bridge collapse nears, with the Maryland-led Key Bridge Response group saying it expects the 50-foot dredged Federal Channel to be reopened by the end of this month.

This is crucial as, while other shallower channels were opened for emergency traffic, some larger ships have reportedly been stuck inside the harbour for almost two months.

Once that is achieved, the long term issue of the Eastern seaboard missing one of its major bridges remains, and by all reckoning it may be years until a replacement is completed.