Highlights: A first navigation corridor has been opened among the rubble of the Baltimore Bridge. The corridor is not wide enough to allow the passage of large ships. A second corridor is being opened, but it is impossible to know when it will open. The first corridor will be 3.4 meters deep and 80 meters wide. It will be reserved for vessels “involved in clearing and rescue of the bridge’s rubble. The second corridor will open in the coming days, but there is no timetable.

A temporary shipping corridor among the rubble of the Baltimore Bridge has been opened to allow ships considered “essential” to pass, port authorities announced.

United States: a first navigation corridor opened among the rubble of the Baltimore bridge

A temporary shipping corridor among the rubble of the Baltimore Bridge has been opened to allow ships considered “

essential

” to pass, port authorities announced.

The collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, March 31, 2024. © Mike Pesoli / AP

By: RFI with AFP

In a press release, the various national authorities, the State of Maryland and Baltimore, specified that this corridor constitutes the first step towards a gradual resumption of maritime traffic in the port of the northeastern United States

the one of the main ones in the country.

However, this corridor is, for the moment, not wide enough to allow the passage of large ships and will therefore initially be reserved for vessels “ involved in

clearing and rescue

operations

”. “

It won’t be wide enough to allow container ships to pass through. Work is underway to gradually open the passage to more ships, but we do not have a timetable for this

,” said Carmen Caver, spokesperson for the coast guard. This first corridor will in fact be 3.4 meters deep and 80 meters wide, “

insufficient for container ships or cargo ships to use it

,” confirmed Ms. Caver.

A second corridor in the coming days

A second navigation corridor is being opened, but it is impossible to know when it will open to navigation, she added. It should be accessible “

in the coming days

,” assured Maryland Governor Wes Moore during a press conference. These two routes "

will help us to have more ships around the collapse site

", he added.

The announcement follows the launch, on Sunday, of the clearing of the elements of the bridge, a complex operation which required the cutting and moving of a first section, weighing “

around 200 tonnes

”.

Earlier this week, a container ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore, on the American east coast, in the middle of the night,

causing it to collapse and killing six people

. The boat is still stuck in place with part of the bridge collapsed on it, blocking shipping in one of the country's busiest ports.

Also read: Who will pay? After the collapse of the Baltimore bridge, the legal battle has only just begun

United States: a first navigation corridor opened among the rubble of the Baltimore bridge

United States: a first navigation corridor opened among the rubble of the Baltimore bridge

A second corridor in the coming days

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