Baltimore shipping to resume by end of April with full capacity by end of May

The Army Corps, part of a multiagency team responding to the Baltimore disaster, announced the plans one day ahead of a visit by President Joe Biden, saying that within four weeks the channel would be suitable for some roll-on/roll-off vessels that transport automobiles and farm equipment.

Earlier this week, two auxiliary channels suitable for emergency vessels, tugs and barges were opened on either side of the disabled ship, which is stuck beneath bridge debris with thousands of containers and a crew of 21 sailors still aboard. But with depths limited to 11 feet (3.35 meters) and 14 feet, those two channels are too shallow for major cargo ships, which need a depth of 35 feet.

By the end of May, the corps said it expects to restore port access to its full capacity with a 700-foot-wide by 50-foot-deep navigation channel. Before then, salvage crews must remove steel bridge debris from atop the Dali in order to extract it from the harbor, then clear the twisted metal and highway wreckage that fell into the water.

Ensconced within that debris are the bodies of four of the six highway workers who were killed.

Biden has said he would ask Congress to fund the complete rebuilding of the bridge.