Largest crane on Eastern Seaboard arrives at Key Bridge collapse site

We begin with that complicated cleanup operation going on in Baltimore as crews begin removing tons of debris from what used to be the key Francis Scott Bridge, after that crews will have to remove thousands of tons of debris from the Cargo ship that crashed into the

bridge

and then pulled away. Only then can officials begin searching for the bodies of the four remaining construction workers. President Biden says he will visit the wreck sometime next week. Here's CBS News Senior Transportation Reporter Chris Van Cleave to clean up the wreckage of the ship. of the Francis Scott Key Bridge and reopening the Port of Baltimore is being lifted by the

largest

floating

crane

on the East Coast, now the Port of Baltimore will be able to pick up pieces of debris weighing up to 1,000 tons.

I want this done quickly. I want it done right, but this will be a long road Maryland Governor Wes Moore, our economy depends on the Port of Baltimore and the Port of Baltimore depends on vessel traffic in the coming days an armada of seven floating

crane

s 10 tugboats nine barges Eight lifesaving vessels and five Coast Guard vessels will join the effort to reopen the Port of Baltimore. They have to clear a 700 ton wide chunk of this canal, which means all this debris has to go away and there is even more at the bottom of the canal. One of the priorities is to remove the debris that prevents divers from recovering the bodies of the four construction workers still missing, including the father of three, José López, his wife Isabelle Franco, speaking through an interpreter.

I feel bad, only God knows how much my heart hurts, maybe he. He was desperately trying to escape. New NTSB video shows us inside the crippled freighter Dolly sitting frozen at the moment she hit the

bridge

. Investigators have focused on gathering perishable evidence and interviewing the ship's crew and pilots who were on board early Tuesday morning while the data is still being analyzed. CBS News estimates that when the more than 900-ton long ship slammed into the bridge, it hit it with at least the same force as the thrust generated by a Falcon9 rocket launch and Chris joins us now, alone in the ship.

There are around 4,000 tons of bridge that need to be removed, Chris, how do you clean up all that destruction behind you? Well, the piece of armor that rests on the ship, they are going to remove between 3 and 4,000 tons of steel. I have to cut that into pieces because even this giant crane they brought in can only lift about 1000 tons at a time, so it's a demanding job and remember what we can see is only part of the rubble, a lot of it is they have sunk about 50 They dive into this dark, dark water almost at midnight where they have to go in and cut into pieces by hand.

Divers will have to do it, so it's a painstaking process and Army Corps engineers told us that each time they remove a piece. change the math to eliminate the rest, so it really sounds like a complicated endeavor that will take time, yes, a tremendous engineering problem, eh, Chris. I also hope you can tell us about the effect of the bridge

collapse

. It hasn't just affected the economy there, but the entire nation, so the port of Baltimore is one of the busiest in the country, it's particularly busy with cars, coal, sugar, uh, those things can't coming in or going out right now, there are ships in the ports that can't leave and there are cargo ships and cruise ships that can't come in, so you have significant disruption when you look at the supply chain issues, now the ships will go to other ports and things will get to where they are eventually, but that will cause delays and of course the things that needed to leave this port will have to be trucked or trained elsewhere for which they will be sitting here.

For an unknown period of time there is also the economic impact of the 8,000 people who work at the Port whose jobs are in limbo and there is a push by the governor and some Maryland state legislators to pass some type of labor protection measure. payroll so they at least receive income while they can't work because the port is closed, okay Chris Van cleav in Sparrows Point Maryland, thanks