A tugboat pushing a fuel barge is the first vessel to use an alternate channel to bypass the Key Bridge wreckage [View all]

Source: PBS News Hour/AP

Apr 2, 2024 10:23 AM EDT


BALTIMORE (AP) — A tugboat pushing a fuel barge was the first vessel to use an alternate channel to bypass the wreckage of Baltimore’s collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge, which had blocked traffic along the vital port’s main shipping channel.

The barge supplying jet fuel to the Department of Defense left late Monday and was destined for Delaware’s Dover Air Force Base, though officials have said the temporary channel is open primarily to vessels that are helping with the cleanup effort. Some barges and tugs that have been stuck in the Port of Baltimore since the collapse are also scheduled to pass through the channel.

Officials said they’re working on a second channel on the southwest side of the main channel that will allow for deeper draft vessels, but they didn’t say when that might open. Gov. Wes Moore is set Tuesday to visit one of two centers that the Small Business Administration opened in the area to help companies get loans to assist them with losses caused by the disruption of the bridge collapse.

In Annapolis, a hearing is scheduled Tuesday for a bill authorizing the use of state reserves to provide financial assistance to port employees who are out of work because of the bridge collapse. Lawmakers are working to pass the bill quickly in the last week of their legislative session, which ends Monday.

Read more: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/a-tugboat-pushing-a-fuel-barge-is-the-first-vessel-to-use-an-alternate-channel-to-bypass-the-key-bridge-wreckage