Page 18 - Port of Baltimore - Issue 3 - 2024

KEY BRIDGE RESPONSE
bridge. And that was where the Unified Command was established.”
In addition to the Corps of Engineers, the Coast Guard and the Maryland Transportation Authority, the Unified Command consisted of the Maryland Department of the Environment, Maryland State Police and emergency management contractor Witt O’Brien’s, representing Synergy Marine.
The following day, “we shifted from search and rescue to recovery because we knew we wouldn’t find anyone living,” Pinchasin said. At that time, the Unified Command also shifted its headquarters from the MDTA to the Maryland Cruise Terminal, which sat idle while the shipping channel was blocked.
‘Like Drinking from a Fire Hose’
Pinchasin had never served in a Unified Command before, she said, and learning the ropes was “like drinking from a fire hose.”
President Joe Biden, seen here during a press conference at the Port, has pledged federal dollars to fully fund the rebuilding of the Key Bridge.
Still, the team didn’t miss a beat as the mission shifted to removing pieces of the bridge that were obstructing the channel.
“Over the next few weeks, we brought in some heavy equipment,” she said, like the Chesapeake 1000, a crane ship capable of lifting 1,000 short tons. Mounted on the Chesapeake 1000 was a massive, hydraulically operated wreck- grab claw to help retrieve pieces of steel from the water.
Finally, on May 13, a controlled demo- lition cleared the largest remaining piece of the bridge off the Dali’s deck. Despite the dangerous nature of the bridge cleanup, no further fatalities or injuries were recorded among those working at the site — a fact Pinchasin is immensely proud of. “I really can’t say enough about the quality of our team,” she said. “Every single contractor out there worked really hard and prioritized safety.”
COURTESY OFTHE EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
POST-KEY BRIDGE MILESTONES AS VESSEL TRAFFIC RETURNS
As debris from the collapsed Key Bridge was removed and the channel to the Port reopened to full vessel traffic, shipping and cruise lines returned to Baltimore in quick succession.
Among the first carriers to return were MSC, ACL and Wallenius Wilhelmsen.
MSC’s Passion III came through the 35-foot-deep temporary channel on April 28, becoming the first container ship to arrive at Seagirt Marine Terminal since the beginning of the crisis. Nearly 1,000 containers were handled by about 80 workers from International Longshoremen’s Association Local 333.
On May 13, ACL’s Atlantic Sun was the first roll-on/ [16] The Port of Baltimore ■ ISSUE 3 / 2024
roll-off ship to arrive at Dundalk Marine Terminal since the Key Bridge Crisis.
The same week, Wallenius Wilhelmsen called at Dundalk with the vehicle carrier Tannhauser.
On May 25, Royal Caribbean’s Vision of the Seas departed Baltimore for a five-night trip to Bermuda, becoming the first cruise to leave the Port since the bridge incident. It was followed on May 26 by the Carnival Legend.
Shortly after the full reopening of the 700-foot-wide, 50-foot-deep channel, Seagirt welcomed the
Ever Forever on June 13. The Ever Forever has a capacity of nearly 13,000 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit (TEU) containers, making it the biggest ship to arrive in Baltimore since the bridge collapse.
SCAN THE QR CODE to watch a time lapse video of the Atlantic Sun being unloaded.