Coal exports from the two main terminals at the Port of Baltimore, Maryland, have restarted, nearly two months after a containership crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge and shut the port to most commercial traffic.

The 81,820dwt Leo Iris arrived at CSX railroad’s Curtis Bay Terminal in Baltimore 15 May and departed on 18 May, according to global trade analytics platform, Kpler. And Consol Energy said today that the first empty vessel to be loaded at the Consol Marine Terminal departed at 7pm on 20 May.

Six other coal vessels either have arrived in Baltimore or are scheduled to arrive and be loaded by the end of this month. This includes the 63,500dwt Eva London and the 37,054dwt St. Paul, which departed Curtis Bay and Tradepoint Atlantic’s Sparrows Point, respectively, on Tuesday, according to Kpler.

The Leo Iris was the first Panamax vessel to be loaded at the Port of Baltimore since 25 March, the day before the containership MV Dali’s crash into a support for the Key Bridge. On 20 May the Dali was refloated and moved,clearing a channel large enough to allow the passage of deep-draft commercial vessels through the Port of Baltimore. Between the end of March and 18 May, the only coal vessels that departed were two Panamaxes that had been at the port at the time of the collapse and a handysize vessel that was loaded at Sparrows Point, which is located outside of the area blocked off by the Key Bridge collapse.

Remnants of the bridge still need to be removed from the seabed before the commercial channel is restored to its full width. That could limit loadings of larger Capesize vessels.

“While we are still limited in terms of size of ships and night-time departures, we are hopeful to resume normal operations as soon as possible,” Consol chief executive officer Jimmy Brock said. “The ability to ship product from the Baltimore terminal is critical as we continue our shift to export markets.”

Consol said the vessel that left its terminal on 20 May was carrying approximately 56,000 net tons (50,802 metric tonnes), which is less than half the traditional 140,000 net tons in larger vessels.

The company did not say what type of coal was exported on the vessel that departed earlier this week. According to Kpler, the 52,489dwt Thor Insu Vi left Consol Marine Terminal on 20 May with thermal coal. Another vessel, the 75,397dwt Gng Concord 3, had arrived at the terminal Tuesday and also was expected to be loaded with thermal coal.

Earlier this month, Consol said it had about 450,000 short tons of coal sitting in inventory at the Consol Marine Terminal that was supposed to be shipped at the end of the first quarter before it was blocked by the port closing. The coal producer and others have been diverting shipments to other ports, but likely not as much as when the Port of Baltimore was fully open.

CSX did not respond to a request for comment. Earlier this month, the railroad’s vice president of coal sales and marketing, Joe Forkum, told attendees of the Eastern Fuel Buyers Conference in Orlando, Florida, that in addition to diverting coal shipments to other ports, some customers were considering trying to use midstreamining in Baltimore to load vessels until the port fully reopens.

The 82,723dwt Msxt Athena and the 81,603dwt Bulk Italy are scheduled to arrive at the Port of Baltimore for coal loadings on 25 May before departing on 29 May, and the 171,014dwt Andros Beauty is expected to arrive at the Port of Baltimore on 29 May before departing on 2 June, according to Kpler. This would make it the first Capesize vessel scheduled to load at the port since the 120,279dwt Gcl Godavari arrived on 23 March.

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