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Tag: reopen
Timeline to reopen Port of Baltimore unclear as collapsed Key Bridge cleanup begins
BALTIMORE — A massive salvaging effort is underway to reopen the Port of Baltimore after the deadly collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
The Navy has mobilized a 1,000-ton lift capacity derrick barge, a 400-ton lift-capacity revolving crane barge and a 160-ton revolving crane to help lift debris from the water, a huge undertaking in the works.
Officials say the section of the bridge trapping the cargo ship dolly weighs between 3,000 and 4,000 tons, so before the Army Corps of Engineers can start moving anything off the water, they’re going to have to cut the debris into smaller pieces.
When will the Port of Baltimore reopen?
All vessel traffic in and out of the port was suspended in the wake of the collapse, but it has remained open for trucks. It isn’t clear yet how long it will take to clear the 700-foot span of the channel of thousands of tons of debris.
The Baltimore district of the corps activated its Emergency Operations Center, which clears the way for more than 1,100 engineering, construction, contracting and operations specialists to provide support to local, state and federal agencies.
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CBS News correspondent Kris Van Cleave reports everything needs to be cleared from the bottom of the channel — 50 feet below the surface — because there is only 12 to 18 inches of clearance between the bottom of the channel and the hull of a cargo ship loaded down with containers.
“There is a lot of speculation as to when the channel will be reopened,” the Port said in a statement Friday. “The fact of the matter is we do not know. Please understand that we are working minute-by-minute with our federal, state and local partners to make that happen as quickly as possible.
The port is the ninth-busiest in the United States, according to Census data, and handled more than $80 billion in import and exports last year, the most in 20 years. It is also home to Royal Caribbean, Carnival and Norwegian cruise lines.
Directly, the port supports 15,300 jobs, while another 140,000 in the area are related to port activities. The jobs provide a combined $3.3 billion in personal income, according to a CBS News report.
“The most urgent priority is to open the Port of Baltimore because it is essential to the livelihood of people here in Baltimore, in Maryland, and the economies across our country and around the world,” U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen said in a news conference Wednesday.
Maryland lawmakers are drafting emergency legislation for income replacement to assist thousands of Port of Baltimore workers impacted by the disruption.
Four remain missing, presumed dead
Eight people, part of a construction crew filling potholes, were on the bridge at the time of the collapse. Two were rescued, two bodies have been recovered, and four remain missing.
So far, four of the victims have been identified:
- Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval, 35, originally from Honduras
- Miguel Luna, originally from El Salvador
- Dorlian Castillo Cabrera, 26, originally from Guatemala
- Jose Mynor Lopez, 35, originally from Guatemala
The bodies of Cabrera and Fuente were recovered from a submerged pickup truck. The search for bodies was paused Wednesday because divers can no longer operate around the mangled bridge debris that has encased submerged vehicles, officials said.
Federal support incoming
Maryland is receiving an initial $60 million in emergency funding from the federal government as the state works to clear the debris. The state sent a letter of request for relief to pay for mobilization, operations and debris recovery.
President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he intends to push the federal government to pay for the entire reconstruction of the bridge, and pledged to work with Maryland leaders to provide as much support as possible.
“It is my intention that the federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing that bridge, and I expect the Congress to support my effort,” Biden said earlier, adding that he plans to visit Baltimore as soon as he can.
The $60 million estimate made by the state of Maryland for initial expenses is, at most, just 10% of the estimated cost for response to the disaster, CBS News learned following a Maryland Congressional delegation meeting.
The Maryland delegation talked about likely costs exceeding $1 billion and a “need for an emergency supplemental” aid package from Congress.
The UN announces that a deal has been reached with Syria to reopen border crossing from Turkey
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations announced late Tuesday that an agreement had been reached with Syria to reopen the main border crossing from Turkey to its rebel-held northwest for six months.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the “understanding” reached following talks between U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths and Syrian officials, U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.
The agreement will reopen the Bab al-Hawa crossing which has been used for 85% of deliveries to the northwest Idlib region.
Haq’s statement followed his earlier announcement Tuesday that Syria has agreed to keep two other crossings to the northwest, Bab al-Salameh and al-Rai, open for three months until Nov. 13.
The U.N. Security Council had failed to adopt either of two rival resolutions on July 11 to authorize further deliveries through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing to Idlib province.
It is home to about 4.1 million people, many of whom have been forced from their homes during the 12-year civil war, which has killed nearly a half million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million. Hundreds of thousands of people in Idlib live in tent settlements and had relied on aid that came through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing.
Syrian President Bashar Assad opened the two additional crossing points from Turkey at Bab al-Salameh and al-Rai to increase the flow of assistance to victims of the devastating magnitude 7.8 earthquake that ravaged northwestern Syria and southern Turkey on Feb. 8. He extended their operation for three months in May until Aug. 13.
Haq said the Syrian government informed Griffiths in a letter on Sunday that it would allow the U.N. to continue using the two crossings until Nov. 13.
Syria had set conditions for the renewal of deliveries through Bab al-Hawa, which the U.N. humanitarian office had largely rejected.
Haq’s statement gave no details on the agreement reached with the Syrians.
Syria has insisted aid deliveries must be done “in full cooperation and coordination with the government,” that the U.N. would not communicate with “terrorist organizations” and their affiliates, and that the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent would run aid operations.
The U.N. responded that the prohibition on communicating with groups considered “terrorist” by the Syrian government would prevent the U.N. and partner organizations from engaging “with relevant state and non-state parties as operationally necessary to carry out safe and unimpeded humanitarian operations.”
Stipulating that aid deliveries must be overseen by the Red Cross or Red Crescent is “neither consistent with the independence of the United Nations nor practical,” since those organizations “are not present in north-west Syria,” it said in a letter.
The letter also noted that the Syrian government’s request that aid deliveries should be carried out in “full cooperation and coordination” with Damascus requires “review.”