APRIL 29, 2024 – Where Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge once stood, 22 colossal floating cranes work sunrise to sunset, evoking the visage of a hustling downtown construction zone rather than a major maritime salvage operation.
Having removed roughly 3,000 of the estimated 50,000 tons of mangled iron trusswork, rebar, and concrete resting on the bottom of the Patapsco River, the cranes still have much work ahead of them. The largest single chunk to date was “section 1B,” moved the morning of Sunday, April 13, tipping the scale at just over one million pounds.
This project’s true sense of scale may be lost at a distance. The narrowest girder vertical web plate of this Pittsburgh-made steel is “merely” an inch thick, with buttresses and trestles measuring three inches or more in girth. Calculating that each 12-by-12-by-1-inch square weighs a bit over 40 pounds, it’s easy to understand there’s no such thing as a little piece of Key Bridge steel.
Crews must possess nerves of steel operating these metal behemoths from dizzying heights – fighting unpredictable winds aloft and choppy waves below – while performing a literal balancing act as they heave massive, mud-covered, waterlogged heaps of twisted steel frame and Interstate 695 onto a nearby waiting barge. On occasions when the “picks” range in the hundreds of tons, the floating cranes will also carry the steel truss for dismantling just three miles away to Sparrows Point, the former site of Bethlehem Steel.
The drivers of these gargantuan machines often nickname their equipment – and the largest floating crane on site, the 52-year-old “Chesapeake 1000,” is no different. Senior crane operator Vincent DelMaestro and his crew call their 1,000-ton mechanized monster “Chessy.” Working with the Chessy for the last 10 years, DelMaestro recalls the recent challenge of lifting – then cutting into two pieces – a 630-ton hunk of Key Bridge Sunday, April 21. The complicated lift started shortly after 6 AM, ending with a different shift at 11:30 PM.
“That particular piece of bridge was jammed into the mud like a knife,” reflected DelMaestro, commenting on the pick that would eventually be carved into sections “0B” and “0C,” 475 tons and 155 tons respectfully. “We designed an intricate game plan the night before, but in this business, the only sure thing is that nothing quite goes as planned. Once we lifted the piece, we couldn’t get the cutting team in a safe position. So we had to re-rig the chains to improve the balance for cutting, then we transported the two pieces to Sparrows Point in reverse order than originally planned.”
Faith in his team’s abilities is instrumental in confidently and safely shifting midstream to a new plan. “Honestly, anything can happen in any moment,” said DelMaestro. “We’re working with mangled wreckage we can’t see, and can only estimate its true weight. There’s risk to me, the Chessy and its crew, and as well as the other cranes and vessels around us – all operating in very confined space. A second catastrophe right now at the bridge collapse site would be absolutely devastating. Even if no one is seriously injured or worse, damaged equipment and all that’s associated with a major accident could set this entire operation back days or weeks. So we reasonably minimize and plan for every contingency we can think of, and always on the ready for the unexpected that we know we inevitably will face.”
Soon to be married with a 200-ton hydraulic salvage claw that recently arrived following its week-long barge trip from Galveston, Texas, the Chessy is poised to take humongous bites out of the submerged wreckage in the days and weeks ahead. Lacking a formal nickname by the Chessy crew, DelMaestro for now simply refers to the monstrous claw, which brandishes four hydraulic arms and a one-million-pound lift capacity, as “the Grab.”
Donning a black baseball cap embroidered with an American flag, DelMaestro praised his team and the hundreds of other workers assembled in the salvage effort for their tireless dedication to restore shipping through the Fort McHenry Federal Channel. “The three major salvors on this mission would normally be competing with each other. But I have seen nothing but cooperation, mutual respect and teamwork from everyone. No one is getting in the way, dragging their feet, giving less than 100 percent, or trying to make things difficult for others,” he said.
“Every person on this jobsite knows that thousands of working people, just like us, depend on the Port of Baltimore reopening as quickly as possible. This isn’t just about recovering debris from the water,” DelMaestro said.
“We are genuinely making a difference in people’s lives. That’s something you very rarely experience in your run-of-the-mill salvage operation. I’m very grateful to be in the middle of that.”
The Chessy serves side-by-side with other titans of the salvage world, such as the 500-ton-capacity “Weeks 533,” the 350-ton-capacity “Samson” and nearly 20 more uniquely-specialized floating cranes. Operated by highly-competent crews with hundreds of years of combined experience, they began arriving to Baltimore within days of the fateful March 26 event. Once planners formulated the salvage strategy and equipment such as barges, tugboats, survey vessels and excavators began arriving on station, DelMaestro and a cast of hundreds from around the world have been executing Unified Command’s plan of removing the estimated 100 million pounds of Key Bridge wreckage from the Baltimore waterway. All the while, they have remained focused on restoring commercial shipping to one of the busiest ports in the nation.
“The skill, experience and professionalism of these crane teams and everyone around them responsible for removing submerged wreckage is truly unmatched,” said Col. Estee Pinchasin, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District. “Pulling these massive loads out of the water can be highly unpredictable. The crews must ensure the wreckage is balanced and properly secured to its rigging. It requires a tremendous amount of patience, and is as much art as it is skill. To do that, without injury or damage to their highly-specialized equipment, represents a standard of excellence that’s indispensable on this very special mission.”
Story by Bobby Petty
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District