Baltimore bridge collapse: explosives to be used to free Dali

The section of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key bridge that is pinning down the 9,962-TEU container ship Dali that struck the bridge and caused its collapse is set to be removed with the use of small explosive charges and what salvors have called precision cuts.

The Key Bridge Response Unified Command that is overseeing and co-ordinating the salvage response has been issuing public notices regarding the work and said the timing of the operation is weather dependent.

The Unified Command is scheduled to use precision cuts made with small charges to remove a large section of the Francis Scott Key Bridge wreckage that is resting on top of Dali.

"The small charges, a standard controlled demolition tool, will split the large section of truss at specific locations to create multiple, smaller sections, which allows salvors to use cranes and barges already on scene to remove these sections of the bridge and ultimately remove [Dali] from the channel," the Unified Command said.

The section of the Key bridge resting on top of the box ship is made up of several hundred tonnes of steel. 

At the end of April, while opening one of the temporary channels to the port of Baltimore, salvors removed a 560-tonne section of steel bridge truss, according to the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). 

Four temporary channels to allow partial access to the port of Baltimore have been quickly opened over the last few weeks, and officials have said they expect the full reopening of the port and its 15-m channel by the end of May. 

After completing a USACE-drafted plan to reopen limited access to the Fort McHenry Channel by the end of April just a month after the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key bridge, salvors are now targeting a refloat of the vessel that collided with and destroyed the brige.