Baltimore’s shipping traffic was disrupted for nearly a week after an explosion on a fully laden coal carrier in the Patapsco River forced the recovery of a massive 30-ton hatch from the harbour.

The 81,681 dwt W-Sapphire, managed by Athens-based W Marine and flagged in Liberia, had just cleared CSX’s Curtis Bay terminal around 6:30 pm on August 18 when a blast ripped through its forward cargo section, sending fireballs and an 80 m smoke plume into the summer sky close to the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge. Local residents described hearing the detonation and feeling vibrations in their homes.

All 23 crew and two pilots were safely accounted for, with no injuries reported. The 13-year-old bulker, laden with coal and bound for Port Louis, Mauritius, was corralled by tugs and guided to anchorage, where it has remained under US Coast Guard supervision. 

On Thursday, the US Coast Guard confirmed it had recovered the hatch and fully reopened the Fort McHenry Channel to ship traffic. The Port of Baltimore said sonar sweeps conducted by the Army Corps of Engineers helped locate and clear the obstruction.

Investigators are probing whether spontaneous combustion or coal dust ignition might have triggered the incident.