Dali crew will stay on board during controlled demolition to remove fallen bridge from ship’s deck

BALTIMORE– The crew of the Dali will remain aboard the grounded container ship while demolition crews use explosives to demolish the largest remaining span of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge, officials said Tuesday.

The steel span landed on the ship’s bow after the Dali lost power and crashed into one of the bridge’s support columns on March 26. Since then, the ship has been stuck amid the wreckage and the busy Port of Baltimore has been closed to most maritime traffic.

The controlled demolition, expected to take place in the coming days, will allow the Dali to be refloated and guided back to the Port of Baltimore, officials say. Once the ship is removed, maritime traffic can return to normal, providing relief to thousands of dock workers, truck drivers and small business owners who have seen their jobs suffer due to the shutdown.

Officials previously said they hoped to remove the Dali by May 10 and reopen the port’s 15.2-meter main channel by the end of May.

The Dali’s 21-member crew will take shelter aboard the ship while the explosives are detonated, Coast Guard Petty Officer Ronald Hodges said.

Engineers have been working for weeks to determine the best way to remove this last major section of the collapsed bridge. The explosives will cause it to tumble into the water. Then a huge hydraulic grab will lift the resulting pieces of steel onto ships.

Video footage released by Coast Guard officials last week showed entire sections of the roadway on the ship’s deck.

Hodges said the safety of the crew was a top priority as officials considered whether they should remain on the ship during the demolition. He said engineers use precision cuts to control how the trusses break down.

“The last thing anyone wants is for something to happen to the crew members,” Hodges said.

Since the disaster, they are no longer allowed to leave the Dali. Officials said they have been busy maintaining the ship and assisting investigators. Of the crew members, twenty are from India and one from Sri Lanka.

A crew spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday afternoon.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the FBI are investigating the bridge collapse.

The Danish shipping giant Maersk had chartered the Dali for a planned voyage from Baltimore to Sri Lanka, but the ship did not get far. The crew sent a distress call stating that they had lost power and had no control over the steering system. A few minutes later the ship rammed the bridge.

Officials have said the safety board’s investigation will focus on the ship’s electrical system, including whether it experienced power problems before leaving Baltimore.

Six construction workers were killed in the collapse. Five bodies have been recovered from the water, but one remains missing. All the victims were Latino immigrants who worked a night shift filling potholes on the bridge. Police officers were able to stop traffic just before the collapse, but did not have enough time to warn workers.

Maryland leaders said last week they plan to rebuild the bridge by fall 2028.