LOGISTICS: Dali to be moved after controlled blast of bridge remnant at US Port of Baltimore

HOUSTON (ICIS)–The container ship that essentially closed the Port of Baltimore on 26 March after it struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing its collapse, is set to be moved now that the mangled remnants of the span was removed from the ship’s bow with controlled blasts on 13 May.

The Key Bridge Response Unified Command (UC) used precision cuts made with small charges to remove a large section of the bridge from the Dali, which will now be refloated and moved to another part of the port.

While not a big hub for chemical imports/exports, the closure of the port had some ripple effects for logistics in the region.

US-based catalyst producer WR Grace said operations at its Curtis Bay Manufacturing site, located to the northwest of the collapsed bridge, have been unaffected despite its proximity to the accident site.

Chemicals make up only about 4% of total tonnage that moves through the port, according to data from the American Chemistry Council (ACC).

The ACC said less than 1% of all chemicals involved in waterborne commerce, both domestic and trade volumes, pass through Baltimore.

But Baltimore is the largest US port for handling exports and imports of vehicles and farm equipment.

Since opening a fourth temporary channel into the port earlier this month, 171 commercial vessels have transited the waterway, including five of the vessels that were trapped inside the port.

The MSC Passion III entered the port on 29 April, according to vesselfinder.com, making it the first container ship to enter the port since the accident.

There are two container ships and a roll-on, roll-off (RoRo) vessel – designed to carry wheeled cargo – in the port on 14 May, according to vesselfinder.com.

The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is aiming to reopen the permanent, 700-foot-wide by 50-foot-deep federal navigation channel by the end of May, restoring port access to normal capacity.

Container ships have been rerouting to other East Coast ports.