Day: June 11, 2024

BALTIMORE — The main shipping channel into Baltimore’s port has fully reopened to its original depth and width following the March 26 collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which blocked most maritime traffic into the harbor.

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Officials announced the full reopening in a news release Monday evening. It comes after a massive cleanup effort as crews removed an estimated 50,000 tons of steel and concrete from the Patapsco River.

The channel was blocked by wreckage of the fallen bridge, which collapsed after a container ship lost power and crashed into one of its supporting columns, sending six members of a roadwork crew plunging to their deaths. All of the victims were Latino immigrants working an overnight shift to fill potholes on the bridge.

The Port of Baltimore, which processes more cars and farm equipment than any other in the country, was effectively closed for several weeks while the wreckage was removed. Crews were able to reopen portions of the deep-draft channel in phases, restoring some commercial traffic in recent weeks.

On May 20, the wayward cargo ship Dali was refloated and guided back to port. The vessel had been stuck amid the wreckage for almost two months, with a massive steel truss draped across its damaged bow.

After the Dali was moved, crews opened a channel that was 50 feet (15 meters) deep and 400 feet (122 meters) wide. The full federal shipping channel is 700 feet (213 meters) wide, which means two-way traffic can resume, officials said. They said other additional safety requirements have also been lifted because of the increased width.

Thousands of longshoremen, truckers and small business owners have seen their jobs impacted by the collapse, prompting local and state officials to prioritize reopening the port and restoring its traffic to normal capacity in hopes of easing the economic ripple effects.

Read More: Baltimore Bridge Recovery Will Be a Key Test for Biden

The announcement Monday means the commerce that depends on the busy port can begin ramping back up.

Officials said a total of 56 federal, state and local agencies participated in the salvage operations, including about 500 specialists from around the world who operated a fleet of 18 barges, 22 tugboats, 13 floating cranes, 10 excavators and four survey boats.

“I cannot overstate how proud I am of our team,” said Col. Estee Pinchasin, Baltimore district commander for the Army Corps of Engineers. “It was incredible seeing so many people from different parts of our government, from around our country and all over the world, come together in the Unified Command and accomplish so much in this amount of time.”

In a statement Monday, Pinchasin also acknowledged the loss of the victims’ families.

“Not a day went by that we didn’t think about all of them, and that kept us going,” she said.

The Dali lost power shortly after leaving Baltimore for Sri Lanka in the early hours of March 26. A National Transportation Safety Board investigation found it experienced power outages before starting its voyage, but the exact causes of the electrical issues have yet to be determined. The FBI is also conducting a criminal investigation into the circumstances leading up to the collapse.

Officials have said they hope to rebuild the bridge by 2028.

OpenAI has hired Sarah Friar, the former chief executive of neighborhood social networking service Nextdoor Holdings Inc., to serve as its chief financial officer, a role that has gone unfilled at the fast-growing artificial intelligence startup for two years. 

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The ChatGPT maker has also named Kevin Weil as its new chief product officer, the company is set to announce Monday. Weil previously steered product development at Instagram and Twitter as an executive  at those companies.

The expanded C-Suite comes at an important moment for OpenAI. The company is working to boost revenue from its artificial intelligence products by selling services to enterprise customers while also adding features like enhanced voice capabilities to its consumer chatbot app. OpenAI has also begun training a more powerful AI model that could help it stay ahead of a growing number of well-funded rivals who are vying for the same users and businesses.

“Sarah and Kevin bring a depth of experience that will enable OpenAI to scale our operations, set a strategy for the next phase of growth, and ensure that our teams have the resources they need to continue to thrive,” said OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman in a draft of a blog post announcing the hires.

Friar, who also sits on the board of Walmart Inc. and was previously CFO at financial tech company Square, will help OpenAI continue to invest in AI research while growing its global business, the startup said. Weil, formerly the president of product and business at satellite image services company Planet Labs PBC, will lead a product team devoted to applying OpenAI’s research work to serve the company’s consumer and enterprise users.

OpenAI’s leadership is currently facing renewed concerns that it prioritized commercializing AI over ensuring its safety. The startup dissolved a high-profile safety group that was focused on addressing long-term risks of AI. It has also been hit by a series of departures from employees on safety-related teams. OpenAI, for its part, has stressed its commitment to developing AI safely and responsibly.

Read More: A Timeline of All the Recent Accusations Leveled at OpenAI and Sam Altman

“The product team at OpenAI has set the pace for both breakthrough innovation, and thoughtful deployment of AI products,” Weil said in a statement. “I am thrilled to be part of the next phase of growth, as we continue to safely and responsibly build towards AGI,” he said, referring to a hypothetical form of AI that can outperform humans on many tasks.