The Port of Baltimore has received its first container ship in its inner harbour since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after being struck by the 10,000-TEU Dali.
The arrival last Saturday at about 1730 hours local time marked an important milestone for Baltimore businesses and longshoremen, who have been heavily impacted by the closure of normal shipping.
The 2,800-TEU MSC Passion III transited through the temporary 35-foot-deep shipping channel and moored alongside at Seagirt terminal. About 80 union longshoremen were there to meet the ship and handle her cargo.
The vessel’s small size allowed her to access the harbor: with her current draft of 30.5 feet, she could fit through the 35-foot-deep “limited access channel” that the Army Corps of Engineers recently cleared through the bridge’s wreckage.
“Around that 35-foot draft is where you’re really starting to get some of the inventory that’s coming onboard that had really been some of the hallmarks of The Port of Baltimore,” Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said last week.
A container-on-barge service from Port of Virginia arrived as soon as the channel opened, but MSC Passion III was the first standard container ship to enter the harbor. The complex operation to restore the waterway to its full navigable depth and remove the Dali is still in progress, and is expected to continue until the end of May.
(Photo from Port of Baltimore)
