Towing of wrecked container ship in Baltimore is under way

The container ship that demolished Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge nearly eight weeks ago was refloated early Monday and towed toward the city’s port.

According to a statement from the Coast Guard-led Unified Command that’s handling the cleanup, tugboats were moving the vessel as of 7 a.m. local time. At about 9 a.m., it was near a marine terminal, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.

The clearing of the ship marks a major milestone in the effort by federal, state and local officials to clear the channel of debris so that commercial traffic can access the port normally again.