AMP.- USA.- The Army hopes to reopen navigation along the route of the collapsed Baltimore bridge at the end of May

MADRID, 5 (EUROPA PRESS)

The US military authorities hope that at the end of May the reopening of the navigation channel through the port of the city of Baltimore will take place, currently cut off by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key bridge after the spectacular impact of a cargo ship against one of its pillars. on March 26.

The estimates of the US Navy Corps of Engineers, in charge of analyzing the incident, in fact contemplate that at the end of April it could even open the passage “in a limited way” through the Fort McHenry canal.

To this end, the USACE is developing a plan to open a deep-draft channel 85 wide by 10 deep that will serve as a transition zone, while a fleet of six barges with heavy-lift cranes carry out the repeated Remains of the freighter ‘Dali’, including the Chesapeake 1000, the largest crane barge on the East Coast.

According to the United States Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the port of Baltimore was the seventeenth busiest in the United States and the third on the East Coast in 2021. In 2023, the port handled more than 80,000 million dollars (73,927 million euros ) in merchandise and generated 140,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs.

Likewise, the port of Baltimore is also the busiest in the US for automobile transportation, with about 750,000 vehicles during 2023.

On the other hand, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, is heading to Baltimore this Friday to inspect the remains of the Francis Scott Key, as reported by the White House.

In addition to an aerial tour, Biden will receive an operational update on the work being done to reopen the Port of Baltimore and will meet with family members of those killed in the collapse.