(CNN) — Almost two months after its devastating collision with a Baltimore bridge, the trapped cargo ship Dali will refloat and travel to the Baltimore marine terminal on Monday morning, officials said.
After weeks of salvage operations, the Dali can finally be relocated thanks to a series of controlled explosions which broke apart a massive piece of the Francis Scott Bridge that had been stuck atop the ship’s bow, officials said. An estimated 500-foot section of the bridge weighing 8-12 million pounds was removed from the ship.
“The refloat and transit sequence is deliberately designed to ensure all response personnel around the M/V Dali maintain control of the vessel, from refloat, transit to, and berthing at a local marine terminal,” Unified Command said in a news release Saturday.
Conditions permitting, the massive ship’s journey will begin around 5 a.m. on Monday during peak high tide, according to Unified Command. Crews will begin prepping the ship about 18 hours before – about midday on Sunday – to take full advantage of the high tide, officials added.
Up to five tugboats will then tow and push the Dali about two and a half miles to the Seagirt Marine Terminal in Baltimore, the release said. It will take an estimated three hours to transport the 984-foot, 106,000-ton ship.
The cargo ship collided with the bridge in the early hours of March 26, killing six maintenance workers and causing most of the structure to collapse into the Patapsco River. The disaster shut down most shipping to and from the Port of Baltimore.
The crash has prompted multiple investigations, including by the FBI and the US Coast Guard.
The ship’s 21-member crew has remained onboard since the collapse, including during the planned explosions on May 13. The ship’s management company told CNN this week the crew will remain on the vessel for “the foreseeable future.”
