A.P. Moller-Maersk says that based on progress made in the Port of Baltimore collapsed bridge clean-up, it may be able to set a timeline on returning to the port in the next week or so, and resumption of network services at the Baltimore port for the second-largest global ocean carrier could come by the end of this month.
“It’s a fluid situation and the uncertainty is based on the progress of clean-up activities and when the channel will be open again for sizable vessels,” said Charles Van der Steene, president of Maersk North America. “But based on the progress, and if the channel is open by the end of May, our network team would expect to make final decisions on the rerouting of vessels back to the Port of Baltimore in the next five to ten days.”
A spokesperson for Unified Command, the government entity in charge of the effort, tells CNBC it will be a Unified Command decision to authorize the reopening of the port.
The remains of the Key Bridge in the Patapsco River entrance to Baltimore Harbor on May 2, 2024, in Baltimore, Maryland.
Brendan Smialowski | Afp | Getty Images
Based on the Maersk network team’s review of the cleanup effort after the container ship Dali crashed into and destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge, Maersk vessels could start arriving at the Port of Baltimore by the end of May or early June.
Van der Steene says the Maersk team has seen less than 200 containers taken off the Dali over the last nine days.
“At this stage, there is no immediate planning to take more containers off the Dali and that’s almost entirely linked to the ability to float it and make sure that we can get it into the port,” Van der Steene said.
Maersk was the shipping company that chartered the Dali.
Salvage personnel work on the wreckage of the cargo ship Dali after it collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge on April 04, 2024 in Baltimore, Maryland.
Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The process of removing shipping containers from the 984-foot-long Dali began in early April. The Port of Baltimore reopened for limited marine traffic after the bride collapse which occurred on March 26. Unified Command has said the goal is to refloat the Dali by May 10, with the main goal to have the main 50-foot-deep channel set to reopen by the end of May.
“We at this stage have helped our customers create mitigating solutions through either Norfolk or Newark, both of the road or through shuttle,” Van de Steene said.
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