A channel was opened in the Port of Baltimore on Thursday to allow trapped ships to leave the port.
The new 10.6m deep and 91.4m wide channel is only a temporary measure, because large pieces of the collapsed bridge still need to be removed.
The US Coast Guard said the channel was expected to close on Monday or Tuesday and remain closed until 10 May to allow teams to continue removing the debris.
“As part of removing the Dali, and continuing to work as fast as possible, and safely, we’re going to suspend vessel transits through that new channel for roughly 10 days or so. That will allow us to safely conduct the rigging we need to do on that large piece of bridge that’s still on board the bow of the Dali," said US Coast Guard, Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath this week.
The Dali lost power and struck the bridge on 26 March causing its immediate collapse, killing at least six people, and destroying Baltimore property.
The opening of the temporary channel comes as a massive 1000-tonne grab arrived at the site this week to assist with the recovery of debris below the surface.
The claw will be used to lift out the debris that still lies stuck in the mud on the bottom of the waterway, in order to restore the channel to its normal navigable depth.
Salvage crews have so far managed to cut and lift the larger pieces of the bridge from above the surface, while pulling up smaller debris with a smaller grab.
According to the Army Corps of Engineers, an estimated 1,300 tonnes of steel have been removed from the channel so far. The arrival of the larger grab is expected to speed up the recovery programme by taking advantage of the lifting capacity of the largest crane on the East Coast, the Chesapeake 1,000.
Baltimore-area companies that depend on the port are losing revenue every day the deep channel is closed.
“Businesses we talked to said they can manage a short-term disruption but if the effort to reopen the channel takes longer, they then expressed greater concerns about lead times and increased costs,” the Richmond branch of the Federal Reserve said last week.
The Army Corps of Engineers said in a statement that it was moving ahead with "steady, precise action," and minimising the potential for errors during the clearing process.
