Largest crane ship on East Coast arrives in Baltimore to clear bridge wreckage

[LAUREN TAYLOR]

IN BALTIMORE, MARYLAND –
CLEAN-UP OF THE COLLAPSED FRANCIS SCOTT KEY BRIDGE IS UNDERWAY.

THE KEY BRIDGE COLLAPSED AROUND 1:30 IN THE MORNING TUESDAY – AFTER A CONTAINER SHIP SLAMMED INTO ONE OF THE BRIDGE’S PILLARS WHEN IT LOST POWER AND STEERING CAPABILITIES.

FOUR CONSTRUCTION WORKERS WHO WERE ON THE BRIDGE ARE PRESUMED DEAD AND STILL UNACCOUNTED FOR.

ON FRIDAY —
THE LARGEST CRANE SHIP ON THE EAST COAST – WHICH CAN LIFT UP TO 1,000 TONS – MADE ITS WAY TO THE WRECKAGE – AND WILL BE ONE OF AT LEAST TWO CRANES USED TO HELP CLEAR THE CHANNEL.

MARYLAND’S GOVERNOR WES MOORE SAID THE US ARMY CORP OF ENGINEERS AND THE NAVY WERE MOBILIZING RESOURCES TO THE CHANNEL – AND THAT THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION APPROVED $60-MILLION DOLLARS IN IMMEDIATE AID FOR DEBRIS RECOVERY EFFORTS.

[GOV. WES MOORE / D-MARYLAND]

“This work will not take hours. This work will not take days. This work will not just take weeks. We have a very long road ahead of us. We understand that. And we’re preparing. And yesterday morning, our team and members of the federal delegation traveled to the site of the collapse on a Coast Guard cutter. You’ve had a chance to see the wreckage from far away. Yesterday we had a chance to see it up close. And when you have a chance to see that wreckage up close, you fully understand the enormity of the challenge. This is an incredibly complex job, and our timeline will be long.”

[LAUREN TAYLOR]

ON WEDNESDAY – OFFICIALS SAID THE WRECKAGE WAS PREVENTING DIVERS FROM GETTING TO THE BODIES OF MISSING CONSTRUCTION WORKERS

OFFICIALS WITH THE COAST GUARD SAY CLEARING THE DEBRIS IS THE FIRST STEP TOWARD THEIR NUMBER ONE GOAL OF RE-OPENING THE PORT OF BALTIMORE.

STEP TWO – THEY HAVE TO REMOVE THE CONTAINER SHIP.

AND STEP THREE – THEY HAVE TO REMOVE THE REST OF THE BRIDGE FROM THE WATER.

AND THEY SAY IT’S A COMPLICATED PROCESS:

[Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath, U.S. Coast Guard]

“But before we can actually engage in lifting, we’ve got to complete the assessment process of the bridge. And the pieces of the bridge are in the water, so that we can figure out how to cut the bridge into the right size pieces so that we can actually lift them with the crane. And we are doing those assessments right now with underwater surveys, with engineering teams back in the unified command, with our Army Corps of Engineers, with our Navy ships are with Coast Guard, with all of our partners that you see up here. That is our number one priority is to reopen the Port of Baltimore as fast as we can and do it safely.”

[LAUREN TAYLOR]

OFFICIALS SAY IT COULD TAKE MONTHS TO REMOVE THE BRIDGE DEBRIS FROM THE WATER AND EXPECT THE PORT OF BALTIMORE TO REMAIN CLOSED UNTIL THE PROCESS IS COMPLETE. WITH THE PORT CLOSED, NO BOATS OR SHIPS CAN GET IN OR OUT.