Baltimore shipping channel reopens 11 weeks after Key Bridge collapse

The main ship channel to the Port of Baltimore has been fully cleared of debris and was reopened Monday evening, 11 weeks after a cargo ship lost power and struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

The Fort McHenry Channel had been blocked since March 26, when the container ship Dali lost power and crashed into one of the Francis Scott Key Bridge’s support piers, knocking it over and killing six construction workers who were filling potholes on the roadway.

“We’ve cleared the Fort McHenry Federal Channel for safe transit,” Col. Estee Pinchasin, Baltimore District commander for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said in a news release.

The ship channel was restored to its original operational dimensions of 700 feet wide and 50 feet deep for cargo ships through the port.