The US Coast Guard (USCG) is to allow salvors to move a vessel that was involved in a bridge collapse on the Tennessee River.
It has approved the transit of Foss Maritime’s 4,000-dwt ro-ro Delta Mariner(built 2000) to a safe harbor on Monday.
Salvage workers successfully cut the Delta Mariner free from subsurface bridge debris early on Monday morning, officials confirmed.
Workers will continue removing the remaining portions of the bridge from the bow of the ship once it is safely secured a mile from its current location.
“The salvage operations are proceeding as planned, and it is a significant milestone that the ship has now been relocated downriver and clear of the bridge,” said Commander Claudia Gelzer, USCG Marine Safety Unit (MSU) Paducah.
The Delta Mariner took out two sections of the Eggner Ferry Bridge on the Tennessee River in late January. The investigation into the cause of the incident is ongoing.
The ship was moving rocket booster components from a Boeing factory to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida when the incident occurred.
By Dale Wainwright in Singapore
