Key Bridge Update – Friday, April 5
Work has been on-going – day and night to clear the wreckage of the Key Bridge since the container ship, Dali, struck the bridge in the early morning hours of March 26th. Two channels have been opened to maneuver tugs and barges around the collapse site and also help traverse some smaller vessels. The US Army Corps of Engineers expects a 3rd channel to be opened by the end of this month – and the full 700-foot wide/50-foot deep federal navigation channel open by the end of May. During Friday’s briefing, Brigadier General John Lloyd of the Army Corps said they’re working to remove a large section sitting on the Dali so that the ship can also be moved.
Unified Command dive teams have recovered the body of a missing person at the Key Bridge incident site in Baltimore, at approximately 10:30 a.m., April 5, 2024. The recovered individual was identified as 38-year-old Maynor Yasir Suazo-Sandoval.
Unified Command salvage dive teams located what they believed to be the missing construction worker and notified the Maryland Department of State Police. Maryland State Police Underwater Recovery Team deployed in coordination with dive teams from allied law enforcement partners and recovered Suazo-Sandoval.
Maryland State Police investigators, along with an FBI Victim Specialist, Baltimore County Critical Response Team, Governor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs met with and notified Suazo-Sandoval’s family.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore has signed an executive order that will direct $60-million to provide immediate temporary economic relief to support businesses and workers impacted by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on April 2nd. Thousands of workers and businesses depend on Port of Baltimore operations and have been impacted by the Key Bridge collapse. The executive order authorizes $25-million to be utilized from the Rainy Day Fund and $35-million from existing agency budgets.
Additional information from the Governor’s office:
The executive order allows the Department of Commerce and the Department of Labor to begin planning for the efficient implementation of the business and worker relief programs under the Maryland Protecting Opportunities and Regional Trade (PORT) Act; authorizes the Department of Housing and Community Development to utilize existing funds to provide grants and loans to businesses; and directs state agencies to identify potential funds, and existing programs and services that may be deployed to support impacted businesses and workers to supplement the temporary economic relief programs.
“The Port of Baltimore is one of our state’s vital economic organs and the thousands of workers and businesses that depend on Port operations have been directly impacted by the Key Bridge collapse,” said Gov. Moore. “As we work as quickly – and as safely – as possible to clear the debris and open the commercial shipping channels, we are working in partnership with our partners at the local and federal levels of government, private sector, nonprofit sector, and philanthropic sector to respond to this economic crisis with the urgency that it deserves.”
The Governor’s Executive Order, authorizes $25 million to be utilized from the Rainy Day Fund and $35 million from existing agency budgets. In addition, the Executive Order:
- Directs the Department of Commerce and the Department of Labor to formally establish the programs as identified by the PORT Act to allow the agencies to begin building the programs. The Executive Order stipulates that these programs cannot be formalized until the enactment of the PORT Act.
- Directs the following expenditures:
- $15 million to the Port of Baltimore Emergency Business Assistance Program at the Department of Commerce to provide grants up to $100,000 to businesses directly impacted by the disruption of Port operations;
- $12.5 million to the Port of Baltimore Worker Retention Program at the Department of Labor to provide grants to directly impacted businesses who are at risk of laying off employees to keep those workers on the job; and
- $15 million to the Port of Baltimore Worker Support Program at the Department of Labor to provide temporary financial support to workers who work regularly at the Port and are ineligible for unemployment insurance benefits.
- Directs $15 million in Neighborhood Business Works program within the Department of Housing and Community Development to provide grants and low-interest loans to eligible businesses that have been impacted by a loss of revenue or an increase to costs relating to the Key Bridge collapse.
- Directs the Governor’s Office of Small, Minority, and Women Business Affairs to provide technical assistance to impacted businesses seeking state and federal business assistance.
- Directs the Department of Health and the Department of Human Services to identify services and programs that may be deployed to support displaced workers and impacted businesses.
- Directs the Maryland State Department of Education to identify services and programs – including child care programs – that may be deployed to support displaced workers.
- Directs the Department of Service and Civic Innovation to identify opportunities for Maryland Corps, the Service Year Option Program, and other DSCI programs to contribute to the recovery of the Greater Baltimore region.
For more information, see the Fact Sheet on Governor Moore’s Executive Order.
