A convoy of seven ships is expected to sail the length of the Chesapeake Bay on Monday in what US Coast Guard Cmdr. Baxter Smoak described it as a “major milestone.”
The 1,000-foot container ship Dali has been in the Baltimore area since March 26, when it crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge, decimating the vital structure and killing six construction workers. The collapse destroyed an integral vehicular traffic artery that had existed for nearly 50 years, and the resulting debris blocked the Baltimore shipping channel for more than two months.
The ship is expected to leave the city on Monday for the first time since the collapse, accompanied by three McAllister Towing tugs, one Moran Towing tug, a Coast Guard vessel and a work boat from salvage company Resolve Marine. The coast guard will maintain a 500 meter safety zone around the Dali.
The 16- to 20-hour trip to Norfolk, Virginia, was scheduled for Friday but is now tentatively scheduled for Monday morning as long as the weather remains as forecast, Smoak said.
After the Key Bridge collapsed, the Dali sat in the shipping channel while crews worked to clear debris on and around the ship. Authorities used explosives to blow up a section of bridge on the Dali and refloated the ship in late May.
Of the original 21 crew members aboard the ship, 10 have been cleared to return home, while the remaining 11 will remain in the Baltimore area. Given their knowledge of the ship, four crew members will accompany a replacement crew to Norfolk, Darrell Wilson, a spokesman for Synergy Marine Group, the ship’s operator, said before returning to Baltimore.
In Norfolk, any containers remaining on the Dali will be offloaded and the ship will be repaired, Wilson said. It will then move to another shipyard for more extensive repairs.
