The massive container ship that collided with and collapsed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore in March began slowly moving away from the site and was brought to shore in a complex procedure on Monday.
The Unified Command, a collection of local and federal agencies leading the operation, said the ship became afloat around 6:40 a.m. ET and was moved by tugboats to a local port starting at 7 a.m.
The Dali crashed off the bridge in the early hours of March 26, causing a catastrophic structural failure that led to the deaths of six construction workers and disrupted shipping along the east coast. The Dali has been in the Patapsco River for the past eight weeks.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said Sunday that the ship would be removed “within days.”
“The floating and transit sequence has been deliberately designed to ensure that all auxiliary personnel around the M/V Dali maintain control of the vessel from floating, transit to and berthing at a local maritime terminal,” the command said in a statement on Sunday.
Engineers planned to survey the ship, loosen some of the anchors and mooring lines still attached to it, and deballast all or part of the 1.25 million gallons of water that had been pumped onto the ship to compensate for its weight or delete. removed by precision cutting on May 13.
Once the ship is released and in open water, up to five tugboats must guide the Dali over a distance of more than two and a half kilometers to a local port – all at a speed of approximately 2.5 kilometers per hour.
The route was checked and found clear by a survey vessel earlier this week, the Unified Command said.
A preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board last week found that the nearly 1,000-foot Dali, which was sailing under the Singapore flag to Sri Lanka, lost power twice in the three minutes before the crash.
The Dali’s 22 crew members were unharmed in the crash, but have had to remain on board since the crash – including during a controlled explosion.
According to US regulations, each ship must have a minimum number of personnel at all times.
Government officials, researchers and union workers have been on board to see the crew. The Singapore Maritime Officers’ Union said in a statement earlier this month that its officials visited the sailors and found they expressed an “unfounded fear of personal criminal liability” and emotional distress.
The FBI has launched a criminal investigation into the crash.
Baltimore ranks among the top 20 U.S. ports and the disruptions caused by the crash have affected supply chains along the East Coast.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
