Sailing Through Challenges on the USCGC William Tate

The Washington Examiner steps onboard the USCGC William Tate, one of the crucial vessels that helped clear the channel for cargo ship Dali to move for the first time in 55 days.

A couple of months have passed since the cargo ship Dali struck Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed, killing six construction workers on March 26. On May 20, tugboats were finally able to escort the 106,000-ton vessel back to the Seagirt Marine Terminal in the Port of Baltimore.

The ship’s removal will now allow “all pre-collapse deep-draft commercial vessels to enter and exit the Port of Baltimore,” according to a news release from the Unified Command, a joint task force composed of multiple government agencies responding to the disaster.

The collision not only choked the supply chain pathway to the busy port but also the livelihoods of thousands of longshoremen. Dockworkers were left idle for weeks, suffering a wage loss of about $2 million a day. Manufacturers and shippers were left scrambling to figure out where they could load or unload cargo. The 30,000 vehicles that drove over the bridge every day had to find alternate routes, and the cost to the Baltimore economy could be as much as $15 million a day, according to Rep. David Trone (D-MD).

“We have refloated and moved the Dali — achieving in weeks what many thought would take months,” Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD) said on May 20 on X. “But our work isn’t done. We must continue to clear the full 700-foot federal channel, support the workers, businesses, and families affected by the collapse, and rebuild the Key Bridge.”

Enter ATON, or aids to navigation, installed and maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard. The Washington Examiner‘s Graeme Jennings was onboard the USCGC William Tate from April 30 to May 3, observing the keeper-class coastal buoy tender maintain pathways and shipping channels open around the Dali collapse site and up the East Coast. It’s “a life-saving service,” Carmen Caver, Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class and public affairs specialist, told the Washington Examiner.

“Though our ATON units are often out of the spotlight, it is an incredibly important aspect of the Coast Guard. We have the equipment and assets to manage the operations, and though we don’t often directly correlate it, ATON saves lives,” she said. “Aids to navigation [which includes buoys, day beacons, lights, ranges, and lighthouses] are crucial everywhere in the world. We have very busy channels up here in the Northeast, especially — I mean, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and D.C. are all in the same area!”

To maintain safety zones at sea, “the Coast Guard does everything from putting buoys out to ensuring everyone follows the rules and regulations for the best possible outcome. This is often replicated in places across the United States, not just for this particular response. We inspect and monitor ATON and even the ships themselves, and we pride ourselves in being as transparent as possible,” Caver added.

“Even with something seemingly small like this buoy lift operation, members of the community reach out and rely on us to get them back to where the buoys need to be. The Key Bridge Response is important, but maintaining the shipping channels in our area is just as important to our communities.”