Baltimore bridge: Pete Buttigieg says shipping channel to reopen end of May

Authorities hope to unblock the port of Baltimore's shipping channel by the end of May, according to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

The economically vital channel in Maryland's Patapsco river has been largely closed since the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge on 26 March.

The 948ft (289m) container ship that struck the bridge, the MV Dali, has been stuck on the Patapsco ever since.

Six men who were fixing potholes on the bridge were killed in the incident.

Mr Buttigieg told the BBC that he was "fully confident that by the end of May" that work teams would have "the vessel out of the way, the wreckage out of the way and the channel ready to go for normal operations".

He said that the six-week closure of large portions of the port has "certainly" had an impact on supply chains, particularly as it came at the same time as war-related disruptions to shipping in the Red Sea and weather-related disruptions to the operations of the Panama Canal.

He added that shipping companies, port owners and transport firms, however, had been "absorbing" the impact of the collapse "quite well."

"They've done a good job of stepping up to make sure that there are temporary responses," he said. "But there's no substitute to permanently getting the port of Baltimore back to normal."

The US Army Corps of Engineer had previously said that the channel would re-open "on or about" 10 May, but officials have repeatedly warned of potential delays caused by weather and the extreme complexity of the clean-up operation.

• 'A game of Jenga': Inside the perilous Baltimore bridge clean-up

• Lost power, mayday call and crash before Baltimore bridge collapse

The Dali was at the very start of a 27-day voyage from Baltimore to Sri Lanka when it lost power and struck the bridge, sending between 3,000 and 4,000 tonnes of debris into the wider Patapsco and leaving the ship immobile under shredded chunks of metal and concrete.

Authorities have recently unveiled plans to use precision cuts with small, controlled detonations to remove what remains of the bridge off the ship.

While four alternative channels have since been opened, the primary 700ft (213m) wide and 50ft (15m) deep shipping channel remains closed.

The MV Dali container ship remains stuck under the collapsed Key Bridge in Maryland's Patapsco River.

Since the collapse, a "unified command" composed of the US Army Corps of Engineers, US Navy, Maryland authorities and specialised private firms has been working to re-float the Dali and clear the channel.

The incident is the subject of a criminal investigation by the FBI, which is looking into the circumstances that led to the crash.

A separate probe is under way by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

All 21 of the Dali's crew members - almost all of whom are Indian nationals - remain on the ship. It is unclear when they will be able to disembark or head to sea.

The port of Baltimore is a key regional hub for goods ranging from steel and aluminium to agricultural equipment, and is used by car-makers including General Motors and Honda. Maryland Port Administration data shows the port handled at least 750,000 vehicles last year.