Bill Doyle, DCA CEO, Updates on Developments for Baltimore's Recovery

Special News Feature: Dredging Contractors of America CEO Bill Doyle updates on the latest developments underway to get the recovery operation started in the Port of Baltimore. 

Doyle discussed the range of dredging and other assets now being prepared and the steps required to undertake the salvage of the M/V Dali after the allision with the Francis Scott Key Bridge. While federal, state, and local authorities are on the scene and the investigations have started, Doyle discussed the next steps and how the recovery operation will begin.

“I have never seen anything like this,” Doyle who was the previous Ports Director of the Maryland Ports Administration and a merchant mariner tells Publisher Tony Munoz.

While much of the discussion is on the Dali blocking the channel, Doyle reports that “about 66-75 percent of the channel is not blocked by the ship. Therefore, clearing the channel of the debris will probably be the first step and given the most attention in order to open the channel as soon as possible. The ship itself could be dislodged and moved later and operations to dismantle the trusses and handle containers could also be done later or at some point simultaneously.” 

He shares his insights on the steps for the recovery operation which is expected to run for weeks and the options that are being considered by the authorities. Among them, he explains is a possible bypass channel for smaller vessels. Doyle highlights the critical role the private sector will play in this phase of the operation working with the federal, state, and local officials.

This conversation follows Bill Doyle’s first interview in the hours after the tragedy as the port community was coming to grips with the incident which is believed to have claimed the lives of six members of a road crew working on the bridge.