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Dali leaves Baltimore for Virginia

Maersk-chartered Dali has left Baltimore nearly three months to the day after collapsing the Francis Scott Key Bridge and blocking the Fort McHenry Federal Channel to all deepsea vessels for 10 weeks.

Nick Savvides, Europe correspondent

June 25, 2024

1 Min Read
Dali Key Bridge
Petty Officer 3rd Class Alejandro Rivera/USCG

On Monday the Bay Bridge was closed to all traffic while the 10,000 teu vessel passed beneath the span heading for Virginia International Gateway to offload the remaining containers on board the vessel. Some boxes were removed previously as part of the salvage operation in preparation to move the vessel from under a span of the stricken bridge.

The Grace Ocean-owned ship will move to Norfolk after offloading its cargo in order to repair its damaged bow.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is examining various electrical components from the ship at its materials laboratory, after its investigators completed in-person interviews of the vessel’s crew.

The NTSB added it will "continue to evaluate the design and operation of the vessel’s electrical power distribution system, and investigate all aspects of the accident."

Maersk Dali crashed into a pylon of the Key Bridge after losing electrical power twice. The crew managed to restore power the first time, but after the second loss the ship drifted into the bridge support, causing the span to collapse, killing six contractors working on the bridge and injuring two, including one crew member.

Rebuilding the bridge is estimated to cost up to $1.9in, with federal officials reportedly working on fast-tracking the necessary environmental approvals, the Maryland District authority expects the rebuilding project to be completed by late 2028.

Related:Baltimore channel fully reopened

About the Author

Nick Savvides

Europe correspondent

Experienced journalist working online, in monthly magazines and daily news coverage. Nick Savvides began his journalistic career working as a freelance from his flat in central London, and has since worked in Athens, while also writing for some major publications including The Observer, The European, Daily Express and Thomson Reuters. 

Most recently Nick joined The Loadstar as the publication’s news editor to develop the profile of the publication, increase its readership and to build a team that will market, sell and report on supply chain issues and container shipping news. 

This was a similar brief to his time at ci-online, the online publication for Containerisation International and Container News. During his time at ci-online Nich developed a team of freelancers and full-time employees increasing its readership substantially. He then moved to International Freighting Weekly, a sister publication, IFW also focused on container shipping, rail and trucking and ports. Both publications were published by Informa. 

Following his spell at Informa Nick joined Reed’s chemical reporting team, ICIS, as the chemical tanker reporter. While at ICIS he also reported on the chemical industry and spent some time on the oil & gas desk. 

Nick has also worked for a time at Lloyd’s Register, which has an energy division, and his role was writing their technical magazine, before again becoming a journalist at The Naval Architect for the Royal Institution of Naval Architects. After eight successful years at RINA, he joined Fairplay, which published a fortnightly magazine and daily news on the website.

Nick's time at Fairplay saw him win the Seahorse Club Journalist of the Year and Feature Writer of the Year 2018 awards.

After Fairplay closed, Nick joined an online US start-up called FreightWaves. 

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