Dali arrives in Virginia three months after destroying Baltimore bridge -

The Dali container ship departed Baltimore with a mostly new crew and eased under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on Monday, sailing on its own power toward Norfolk three months after it veered off course and left a path of destruction that will take years to recover from.

Only four of the 21 crew members who were on the ship when it struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26 joined the Dali’s replacement crew Monday on the trip to the Port of Virginia, according to Darrell Wilson, a spokesman for the ship’s operator, Synergy Marine.

The ship reached Virginia International Gateway, a major terminal, early Tuesday morning, according to vessel-tracking site Marine Traffic. It will offload about 1,500 containers there before heading to Norfolk International Terminals for repairs, according to the Coast Guard.

Eight other members of the original crew — who had remained aboard the stranded ship for months — arrived back in their home country of India in recent days, with two others on their way, Wilson said. Other crew members recently departed the Dali for temporary lodging in Baltimore, Wilson added, saying they have to remain there for now in connection with ongoing litigation.

The National Transportation Safety Board said in an investigative update Monday that it had finished its in-person interviews with crew members and onboard testing of electrical systems.

On the day of the crash, the NTSB said Monday, two electrical breakers “unexpectedly opened when the vessel was three ship lengths from the Key Bridge, causing the first blackout (loss of electrical power) to all shipboard lighting and most equipment.”

In a highly technical update, the NTSB investigators said they found an “interruption” in a circuit for part of one of the ship’s electrical breakers. They also removed an insulated component that connects wires, called a terminal block, for testing in their materials lab.

The investigators emphasized that no conclusions should yet be drawn about the probable cause of the crash and that they are continuing to look at the design and operation of the Dali’s power distribution system and “all aspects of the accident.”

On Monday, the Dali was escorted by four commercial tugboats. A Coast Guard cutter, the Sailfish, enforced a 500-yard “safety zone” so other vessels wouldn’t get too close.

With memories of the accident that killed six construction workers still raw, authorities temporarily blocked traffic on the Bay Bridge late Monday morning “out of an abundance of caution” as the Dali approached, according to the Maryland Transportation Authority.

Towering stacks of red, yellow and white containers were kept on board to help weigh down the Dali so it would sit low enough in the water to pass safely beneath the Bay Bridge, the Coast Guard said.

Video released by the Maryland Transportation Authority showed the ship passing under the Bay Bridge without incident.

The NTSB, Coast Guard and FBI continue to investigate the crash, which sent vast amounts of mangled steel and other debris into the Patapsco River and disrupted operations at the Port of Baltimore.

The disaster cost the Baltimore region’s economy about $1.2 billion, according to Sage Policy Group, a Baltimore-based consulting firm. Port officials said they expect it will take until 2025 for business to fully return. Shippers say transportation headaches could worsen as trade bounces back without the Key Bridge, which state officials hope to reopen in 2028.

The crash raised questions about whether federal authorities are keeping up with rising threats to bridges from ever-larger ships, spurring a nationwide inquiry by the Coast Guard.

The firms that own and operate the Dali have come under scrutiny, with the FBI investigating whether major problems were known before the ship left the port. The Coast Guard is also investigating the crash.

Lawyers representing Synergy and the ship’s owner, Grace Ocean Private Ltd., said in legal filings that they had been advised that “the U.S. Coast Guard will permit certain crew members to return to their home countries but has requested that other crew members remain in the United States.”

Wilson said Synergy is “extremely happy that we were able to get 10 of our valued crew members back to their families and loved ones. We hope to get the other 11 home just as soon as possible.”

A spokesman for the city of Baltimore, which sued Grace Ocean and Synergy, alleging negligence, did not respond to a request for comment.

Salvage work on the Dali is still not done, authorities said. Large sections of roadway and other heavy debris crashed onto the ship’s deck after it lost power and slammed into the bridge. The salvage vessel Interceptor, from the emergency response firm Resolve Marine, followed the Dali from Baltimore, and some salvage work is scheduled to continue, the Coast Guard said.

Steve Thompson contributed to this report.

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