The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is setting its sights on an ambitious timeline to reopen the Port of Baltimore after last week’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse shuttered the port indefinitely.
The USACE expects to carve out a limited access channel to the Port of Baltimore by the end of April, the Army Corps said Thursday. That’s less than four weeks away. This partial reopening would support one-way traffic in and out of the port for barge container service and vessels transporting automobiles and farm equipment.
By the end of May, the Army Corps is aiming to permanently reopen the federal channel in its entirety, which would restore the key port normal capacity. The temporary channel will be 280-feet wide and 35-feet deep, while the permanent federal navigation channel will be 700-feet wide by 50-feet deep.
“These are ambitious timelines that may still be impacted by significant adverse weather conditions or changes in the complexity of the wreckage,” said Scott Spellmon, USACE’s commanding general. “We are working quickly and safely to clear the channel and restore full service at this port that is so vital to the nation.”
The engineers developed the timeline after carrying out underwater surveys and detailed structural analyses of the wreckage.
The reopening of the port is an urgent priority to prevent further potential supply chain disruptions. In 2023, the port handled $80 billion worth of foreign cargo — meaning that every month that vessel traffic doesn’t pass through the port, more than $6 billion of cargo is bottlenecked.
The port is also a critical choke point for the automotive industry. It’s the top U.S. port for autos (a title it has held for 13 consecutive years), with more than 847,000 cars and light trucks moving through the channel. Several major foreign and domestic automakers — including Nissan, Toyota Motor, General Motors, Volvo, Jaguar Land Rover, and the Volkswagen Group — import and export their cars through the port.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed last Tuesday after it was struck by a Maersk-chartered cargo ship. At least six people died, including four workers who fell into the Patapsco River at the time of the collapse.
“A fully opened federal channel remains our primary goal,” Spellmon said, “and we will carry out this work with care and precision, with safety as our chief priority.”