Maryland metal recycler Smith Industries has begun shipping scrap generated from the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge to US steel mills, the company said.
The Key Bridge created about 18,000 short tons of ferrous scrap after a container ship struck the bridge in March, causing it to block vessel traffic at the Port of Baltimore until the shipping channel fully reopened on 10 June.
The Maryland Transportation Authority contracted Swedish company Skanska to lead salvage operations in April for $50mn.
Skanska agreed to sell the scrap for an undisclosed fee that month to Smith Industries, which operates an export yard on the seaboard side of the Key Bridge at Sparrows Point.
The steel truss sections of the bridge are cut into five-foot sections then trucked to Smith Industries' yard at Sparrows Point. The salvage operation has processed more than 10,000st of steel scrap so far, the Maryland Transportation Authority said.
Smith Industries said in a social media post last week that it had started shipping Key Bridge structural scrap to US steel mills by rail. The company could not be reached for further comment.
