US authorities working on the Baltimore bridge collapse told AFP on Monday that they planned to open two small, temporary channels to allow ships to access the site.
These channels will initially only be open to ships participating in the Francis Scott Key Bridge cleanup operation and will not be large enough to allow cargo and container ships to pass through.
The first of the channels is scheduled to open on Monday, US Coast Guard Petty Officer Kimberly Reeves told AFP, adding that a second channel would be opened later.
The temporary channels are being set up as work continues to clear the port of the steel structure, which was destroyed in seconds last Tuesday when an out-of-control ship hit it, killing six people.
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Authorities hope that removing the bridge — by cutting it into smaller sections and raising them — will help rescuers recover all the victims’ bodies as well as reopen the critical shipping lane.
No public use
“The channel is being opened to people involved in the response,” US Coast Guard Petty Officer Carmen Cover told AFP on Monday.
“We have no plans at this time to open it to public use, but you may see ships passing through if they are involved in the actual operations,” he added.
The first temporary channel will be 11 feet deep, 264 feet horizontally and 96 feet vertically, the multi-agency task force overseeing the operation said in a statement.
The temporary channel “is not big enough for container ships or trucks to go through,” Cover told AFP, adding: “They are working on a plan to slowly open it up to more and more people.”
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The Port of Baltimore is a key hub for the auto industry, handling nearly 850,000 cars and light trucks last year — more than any other U.S. port — according to Maryland state data.
It also ranked first for agricultural and construction machinery, as well as imported sugar and gypsum, and second for coal exports.
The continued closure of the port is already hurting the US economy, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore told MSNBC on Sunday.
“It affects people all over the country,” he said.
Source: AFP