The first containers were lifted from the stricken boxship Dali at the weekend to help clear the wreckage of the collapsed Baltimore bridge.

The removal of the containers will allow salvors to lift metal from the Francis Scott Key Bridge from the bow of the 9,962-teu Dali (built 2015), which will eventually let the ship move.

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Footage released by authorities on Sunday showed one of the less damaged containers being lifted from the ship.

The twisted wreckage of the bridge and roadway lies across the bow, and removing it will be key to allowing the Dali to move, said the joint command centre of the operation.

The process of removing the containers from the Grace Ocean-owned, AP Moller-Maersk-chartered container ship will continue in the coming days, if the weather allows.

The salvors were working to “remove enough debris to open the channel to larger commercial traffic, refloat the M/V Dali and continue recovery efforts for missing loved ones”, said US Coast Guard Captain David O’Connell.

Dive teams recovered the body of one of the four missing construction workers on Friday. He was identified as Maynor Yasir Suazo-Sandoval, 38.

The removal of the containers comes nearly two weeks after the Dali reported a loss of power and steering problems before hitting the bridge, killed six people and disrupting shipping traffic in the Patapsco River.

Broken containers on the bow of the Dali after it ran into the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Photo: Key Bridge Response 2024 Unified Command

The Coast Guard has opened up two temporary channels that have allowed 32 “commercially essential” ships to connect Baltimore to the Atlantic.

“Our number one priority remains reopening that shipping channel,” Coast Guard rear admiral Shannon Gilreath told a briefing last week.

Container lines are rerouting their services. Some of the biggest challenges are faced by car manufacture supply chains, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

It said the monthly imports of cars for Baltimore totalled 60,000 to 70,000. Only one port terminal remains open. It is expected to handle 10,000 vehicles in the next couple of weeks, S&P Global Market Intelligence said in new research.

Baltimore accounts for 28% of US coal exports, with Indian brickmakers major buyers, it said. Industrial equipment manufacturers, including Hitachi and Kubota, also face disruption.

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