An insider's view of the ‘largest and most complex marine salvage’

On 26 March 2024, the container ship Dali struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge, collapsing the steel trestle sections of the bridge, dropping 16,000 tonnes of steel and 10,000 tonnes of roadbed material into the Patapsco River. Debris from the collapse blocked the navigational channel and access to the Port of Baltimore, resulting in major economic disruption. Six construction workers on the bridge were killed in the accident. The US Department of Justice recently brought federal criminal charges against the Synergy Group and one of its technical superintendents.

Investigators at the US National Transportation Safety Board spent more than a year and a half investigating the incident and piecing together a detailed accident report in which they found that a single loose wire caused power outages on board the 9,962-TEU container ship Dali that led to the allision with and the eventual collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key bridge. 

Following his presentation at ITS 2026, Timothy P. Williamson, vice president, Salvage Operations, Donjon Marine, discusses the priorities and some of the lessons learned in the ‘largest and most complex marine salvage’.