Baltimore Port Update: Clean Up/Reopening Discussion

MSC’s vessel, the MSC Passion III, recently made a notable visit to the Port of Baltimore’s Seagirt Container Terminal. This visit marked the first arrival since the Francis Scott Key Bridge incident on March 26^th. MSC Passion III, with a capacity of 2,797 TEU, typically serving the Philadelphia Express route connecting Philadelphia to Freeport in the Bahamas, made an unscheduled stop at Seagirt to retrieve containers affected by the bridge collapse. Vessel-tracking data confirms that the MSC Passion III arrived in Baltimore on April 27^th and departed on April 29^th.

In Baltimore today, crews are gearing up for a controlled demolition scheduled for this evening to dismantle the largest remaining steel section of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge. This move is a crucial step forward in the ongoing cleanup efforts aimed at reopening the port’s shipping channel by the end of this month. Engineers have been diligently preparing for weeks to use explosives to break down the approximately 500-foot-long steel span, weighing around 600 tons.

Local authorities have successfully cleared a temporary bypass channel with a depth of 10.60 meters, allowing entry and exit for mid-sized vessels. The main channel, boasting a depth of 15.25 meters, is expected to resume operations by the end of May after the removal of the DALI and certain steel beams from the bridge’s main truss. Subsequently, the bypass utilized by the MSC PASSION III was closed on April 29^th, limiting access to Baltimore to only the smallest vessels until the main channel reopens.

If you have any questions, please contact your local Noatum Logistics representative.