Crews have removed containers from the massive shipping vessel that slammed into the Baltimore bridge late last month.
Workers began to remove the containers starting Sunday and will continue to do so over the next several days, weather permitting, according to a statement from the Key Bridge Response Unified Command.
The command explained that removing the containers is a “critical step” in safely moving the ship and reopening the channel.
“The Unified Command is concurrently progressing on its main lines of effort to remove enough debris to open the channel to larger commercial traffic, refloat the M/V Dali and continue recovery efforts for missing loved ones,” Coast Guard Capt. David O’Connell said in a statement.
“Every day we are working to achieve these goals safely and efficiently,” he added.
The shipping vessel, named The Dali, lost power on its way out of the Baltimore Harbor late last month on its way to Sri Lanka and slammed into the Francis Scott Key bridge, causing it to collapse. Since then, the Baltimore port has been closed.
Officials have set up a temporary channel to allow vessels in that are helping to clear the debris. Once the shipping containers are removed, workers can safely begin removing the bridge wreckage that lays across the ship’s bow to remove the weight and ultimately allow the ship to be moved.
President Biden visited Baltimore on Friday alongside Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and local officials. He said he expects to have the Baltimore Port reopened by the end of May — a goal Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) said Sunday was “realistic” but will take a lot of time.
“It is an aggressive timeline, but we are going to work around the clock to make sure that we hit this timeline,” Moore told CBS host Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation.”
Six of the eight workers on the bridge that night were killed in the collapse. The Coast Guard has begun an effort to recover the bodies of the victims and announced on Friday that dive teams had recovered the body of construction worker Maynor Yasir Suazo-Sandoval, 38.