authorities recover ship data recorder

As for the ship, Vice Admiral Peter Gautier, the Deputy Commandant for Operations for the Coast Guard, said it remains stable in the waters of the Patapsco, but it still has over 1.5 million gallons of fuel and lube oil on board.

Fifty-six of the 4700 cargo containers on board contain hazardous materials, he said, and two cargo containers with non-hazardous material are missing overboard.

As the recovery continues, attention also shifted to the economic impact of the crash, which experts fear could cost up to $US15 million ($23 million) for everyday the Port of Baltimore is closed.

The port is a major employer in the US, providing more than 15,000 direct jobs and almost 140,000 indirect jobs. It is also used by companies such as Amazon, Ford and Domino Sugar, whose Baltimore refinery is the biggest in the western hemisphere.

But about 14 ships now remain stuck in the port, while the loss of the bridge has knocked out a major thoroughfare, not just for the blue-collar communities at each end of it, but also for millions of Americans who used the bridge en route from Washington DC and Maryland, to states such as New York and Delaware.

Tinglong Dai, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, said the port played “a very big role” in the local, regional and national economy. But he believed the supply chain was resilient enough to cope as some cargo was already being re-routing to other ports across the US.

“The Port of Baltimore is not among the largest port in the United States, let alone in the world, but it’s niche, or very specialised, especially in automobile and truck imports and exports,” he said.

“We’re going to see more re-routing happening in the coming months, if not the coming year, so I would expect the impact to be relatively local and the minimum and short term.”

Tuesday’s collision took place shortly after the cargo ship, known as the Dali, left for what was meant to be a 27-day journey to Sri Lanka.

But as it approached the Francis Scott Key Bridge, it lost propulsion and was unable to slow down. A mayday was issued – which allowed authorities to stop traffic from entering – but the maintenance workers had no time to evacuate. All eight fell into the Patapsco River as the bridge crumpled on impact.

Having woken up on Tuesday morning to the extraordinary images of the iconic bridge collapsing, Baltimore continue to process the tragedy.

At the Mt. Olive Baptist Church, government officials and faith leaders held a vigil on Tuesday night to honour the victims and pledge support for their families.

On one of the main highways connecting the city to Washington DC, a billboard for first responders proudly declares: “Thank you for responding at Key Bridge.”

And across the city, residents remain stunned by the loss of what was an iconic fixture in the city’s skyline for almost half a century.

“It was just a shocking way to wake up yesterday morning,” said Rachel Sangree, a local academic.

“This is an iconic Baltimore structure that I’ve seen every day in the 20-plus years I’ve lived in the area.”