- Buttigieg briefed reporters after meeting with President Joe Biden
- He noted that the Francis Scott Key Bridge took five years to build
- The enormous freighter Dali had 4,700 containers on board
The Biden administration is just beginning to estimate how long it will take to clear the rubble, reopen the Port of Baltimore and rebuild a crucial bridge that collapsed when a container ship crashed into part of the supporting structure.
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg doesn’t even dare to guess how long it would take to repair or replace the Francis Scott Key Bridge, or what it would cost.
“Too early to be sure,” he said when asked for even the most general estimate during an appearance in the White House briefing room Wednesday after a meeting with President Joe Biden about the disaster.
“What I’m saying in the case of the bridge is that the original bridge took five years to build. He said engineers still need to get a sense of the “basic infrastructure” and whether the remaining portions of the bridge are still usable.
Nor could much guidance be given on when the U.S. Coast Guard, Army Corps of Engineers and state officials might open the Port of Baltimore, a crucial shipping hub that offloads cars, chemicals and fam equipment and sends out an array of transport ships. export.
“As for the port, again, too early to hazard an estimate,” he said.
Too early: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said it was too early to say when a new bridge might be built to replace Baltimore’s collapsed Key Bridge, and too early to know when the port would reopen
Buttigieg appeared alongside Vice Adm. Peter Gautier, deputy commander for operations of the United States Coast Guard, who failed to provide a clear timeline for when authorities would be able to remove the steel and concrete covering the bow of the container ship Dali lies at the bottom of the ship. the Potapsco River, while other container ships are stranded in the port and others are stuck outside.
Gautier was able to provide precise information about the cargo containers still on board.
The ship has 4,700 containers on board. “Fifty-six of them contained hazardous materials, and two of them were missing overboard,” he said. Those that fell into the Potapsco, which is part of the Chesapeake Bay, “did not contain any hazardous materials,” he said.
About 30 containers on the ship’s bow were damaged.
He said some of the hazardous materials included mineral oils, for example, and that there is “really no threat to the public whatsoever.”
Baltimore is one of the nation’s 20 largest ports and the pinnacle for automobile and light truck transit
Fifty-six containers on board contained hazardous materials, the Coast Guard said. Two went overboard but are not believed to be dangerous
U.S. Coast Guard Vice Commander for Operations Vice Admiral Peter Gautier said 56 containers contained hazardous materials and the ship was at the bottom.
Things are looking good: Officials are already conducting investigations at the port to determine how to proceed
The ship is “stable,” he said, with one and a half million gallons of fuel oil on board.
The Coast Guard has begun “mobilizing resources” to take the “next steps necessary to refloat the vessel and remove it from that area,” he said.
The ship is on the bottom and divers are conducting underwater research to assess the situation. Step one is to remove debris on board the ship.
Buttigieg is once again thrust into supply chain troubles after he began his term trying to help untangle the disruptions caused by the COVID pandemic that triggered a jump in inflation that is still playing out.
The economic consequences are still visible. The port alone employs 8,000 people. A total of between 100 and 200 million dollars comes in every day. It is the main port for handling cars and light trucks, and Buttigieg, a former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, repeatedly emphasized its role as a transit point for farm equipment.
Buttigieg began his remarks by recognizing the six bridge workers who tragically lost their lives after working overnight to repair the road while most of us were sleeping.” He said without the ship’s distress call and the quick action of first responders: