The Fort McHenry channel into the Port of Baltimore was fully reopened on 10 June 2024, when the US Army Corps of Engineers and the US Navy Supervisor of Salvage and Diving restored the Fort McHenry Federal Channel to its original operational dimensions of 700 feet wide and 50 feet deep for commercial shipping.
Corporate INTL Newsroom · Maritime & Shipping
Baltimore's Fort McHenry Channel Fully Reopens After the Key Bridge Collapse
By The Corporate INTL Newsroom · 11 June 2024
According to the Army Corps of Engineers announcement, the Unified Command surveyed the federal channel on 10 June after wreckage was removed at the 50-foot mud line, and certified the riverbed as safe for transit. Work to clear the wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge and move the container ship M/V Dali from the federal channel began on 26 March 2024, following the collapse of the bridge.
How the channel was cleared
About 50,000 tons of wreckage were removed from the Patapsco River. The first of three temporary alternate channels for shallow-draught vessels opened on 2 April, and a limited access channel 300 feet wide and 35 feet deep opened on 25 April. On 20 May the Dali was refloated and moved, and the federal channel was cleared to 400 feet wide and 50 feet deep, which allowed all deep-draught commercial vessels that used the port before the collapse to transit again. The last major steel truss was removed from the federal channel on 4 June.
The response involved 1,587 individual responders. The Unified Command was made up of the US Coast Guard, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Maryland Department of the Environment, the Maryland Transportation Authority, Maryland State Police and Witt O'Brien's, representing Synergy Marine, and it led the work of about 56 federal, state and local agencies.
What it means for shipping
With the full width restored, the Baltimore District release explains, the channel can return to two-way traffic and the additional safety requirements introduced because of the reduced width can be cancelled. For carriers, cargo owners and insurers, the reopening ends the access restrictions that have shaped port calls since March, although claims arising from the collapse and the disruption are being pursued separately.
What happens next
Surveying and removal of steel at and below the 50-foot mud line will continue so that future dredging is not affected. The Army Corps said remaining work in the Fort McHenry channel now forms part of its routine maintenance of the waterway.
Sources
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