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U.S. emergency responders on Saturday started crane operations and wreckage removal on a section of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in the U.S. city of Baltimore, Md.
Earlier this week, on early Tuesday morning, the bridge came crashing down after a container vessel chartered by Maersk (OTCPK:AMKBF) (OTCPK:AMKBY) collided into one of its pillars. The incident has left several people missing, six of whom have been presumed dead by the U.S. Coast Guard.
The wreckage removal operations are being conducted by the so-called Unified Command, which is a response team that includes the Coast Guard, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Maryland Department of the Environment and the Maryland Transportation Authority.
“Highly trained demolition crews will begin cutting the top portion of the north side of the collapsed bridge into smaller sections for safe removal by crane. One crane barge and one working barge are staged at the incident to support Saturday’s operations,” the Unified Command said in a statement.
“Salvage teams will use gas-powered cutters to systematically separate sections of the steel bridge, which will be taken to a disposal site,” the Unified Command added.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge acts as the entryway to the Port of Baltimore, which has been non-operational until further notice. It is the largest port in the U.S. for volume of cars and light trucks, heavy farm and construction machinery, imported sugar and imported gypsum.
Though analysts have said the port shutdown is unlikely to have major effects on the U.S. economy, the sheer size of the port’s volume makes it highly important in the supply chain. Shipping companies have been forced to adjust their routes and divert to other ports.
“This is going to take time, to clear this section of the collapse. It’s not going to take hours, it’s not going to take days, but once we complete this phase of the work, we can move more tugs and more barges and more boats into the area to accelerate our economy,” Md. Governor Wes Moore said in a press conference on Saturday.
“This is not just about Maryland. This is about our nation’s economy. The port handles more cars and more farm equipment more than any other port inside this country, and at least 8K workers on the docks have jobs that have been directly affected by this collapse. Our economy depends on the port of Baltimore and the port of Baltimore depends on vessel traffic,” Moore added.