A cargo ship trapped by the collapse of a major bridge in Baltimore last month successfully left the port city on Thursday after a new temporary channel was opened, shipping data show.

The March 26 collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge after it was struck by a huge container ship knocked out a major transit route into the port city and trapped cargo vessels inside.

The authorities have been working around the clock to locate the bodies of six road maintenance workers who died in the disaster and reopen the channel to shipping traffic as swiftly as possible.

A new temporary channel was opened on Thursday morning — the fourth so far — to allow larger vessels to leave the port, Enoch Bang, a U.S. government official working on the multi-agency response team, told AFP by phone.

The Panama-flagged Balsa 94 then left the port in the morning, passing by the site of the collapsed bridge, according to MarineTraffic.com.

The 106-meter long, 19-meter wide vessel appears to have passed the wreckage of the bridge without incident, and has since continued its journey through the Chesapeake Bay en route to Saint John, Canada, where it is expected to arrive on Sunday.

The temporary channel opened Thursday has a minimum depth of 35 feet (10.7 meters), a 300-foot horizontal clearance, and vertical clearance of 214 feet, according to a recent statement from the U.S. Coast Guard, which is part of the response team.

It will remain open until Monday or Tuesday, depending on the weather, the Coast Guard said, after which it will be closed to allow for “critical and highly dynamic salvage operations to advance efforts to fully clear the channel.”

The Army has said it is aiming to reopen a deeper, permanent, channel by the end of May, restoring port access to normal capacity.

© AFP 2024