Watch: Baltimore’s Federal Channel Now Fully Restored to Original Operating Dimensions

Written by Nick Blenkey, Senior Editorial Consultant and Web Editor, Marine Log

Aerial photos taken Friday afternoon, June 7, 2024 by Maryland State Police Aviation Command shows salvors continue pulling massive, mangled chunks of Francis Scott Key Bridge wreckage from the depths of the Patapsco River.

As part of the Unified Command response to the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Navy Supervisor of Salvage and Diving on June 10 restored the Fort McHenry Federal Channel to its original operational dimensions of 700 feet wide and 50 feet deep for commercial maritime transit through the Port of Baltimore.

The news came within hours after the Unified Command, set up following the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, had released new video and imagery showing continued progress on its work to reopen the Fort McHenry Federal Channel.

“We remain confident we will have the Federal Channel fully restored in the next few days,” Col. Estee S. Pinchasin, USACE, Baltimore District commander, said then. “We’re using the same detailed process as when opening the three alternate channels and the Limited Access Channel. Once the wreckage is cleared, we will sweep the area with sonar, LIDAR and magnetometer, to investigate any high spots, ensuring there’s no hazard to navigation.”

The Chesapeake 1000 (“Chessy”) floating crane equipped with “Gus” the hydraulic grabber, wrestle a 90-ton piece of residual wreckage Friday morning, June 7, 2024, from the Fort McHenry Federal Channel. Taking roughly 45 minutes to unfold, Chessy and Gus slowly lift the mangled steel high above the Patapsco River, so a waiting barge can move underneath, allowing the wreckage to be safely lowered onto the barge for immediate processing by waiting hydraulic shears. *(Photo: Unified Command)*

Armed with oxyacetylene torches and a 75-ton claw excavator Wednesday afternoon, June 5, 2024, at Sparrows Point, Md, Unified Command salvage workers quickly carve up “Segment 4C”—a 420-ton section of steel truss removed from the Fort McHenry Federal Channel the day prior. Once cut into smaller pieces, crews load the Francis Scott Key Bridge steel onto tractor trailers for offsite recycling.

“We are going to be as thorough and disciplined as we have been since the beginning—we owe it to Baltimore and the Port, to turn over a safe navigation channel they can use with the greatest of confidence,” Pinchasin said.

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