Small general cargo ship becomes first to transit Baltimore channel after bridge collapse

A ship trapped by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge has become the first to depart on an ocean voyage, but its tiny size is a reflection of the challenge to open traffic to Baltimore’s still shut-in port.

Tracking data from VesselsValue shows that the 7,700-dwt general cargo ship Balsa 94 (built 2019) has left the Patapsco River and entered Chesapeake Bay, nearly a month after a Synergy Marine-managed container ship slammed into the bridge, which crumpled into the shipping channel connecting the port of Baltimore to the Atlantic.