The Dali is on the move, with tugboats slowly guiding the cargo ship back to the Port of Baltimore, 55 days after it struck and collapsed the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

The ship, tethered to at least five tugboats, became “buoyant” around 6:40 a.m., according to a post by the Coast Guard, and began moving about 20 minutes later. The 2.5-mile journey back to port was expected to take several hours.

Crews had begun laborious preparations to refloat the massive vessel on Sunday, targeting the operation to take advantage of high tide in the Patapsco River at 5:24 a.m.

Live streams, though, showed the ship immobile for the next 90 minutes, surrounded by salvage equipment, tugboats and a piece of the shattered bridge jutting from the water nearby.

Once it began moving, an online ship tracker said it was going at about 1.2 knots.

The ship had been stranded with its 21-man crew in the Patapsco River since the March 26 collision that killed six construction workers who had been repairing potholes on the span.

Related Articles

Crews have been working to clear the debris since then, and one week ago used controlled explosives to break up a massive section of the bridge that had landed on the bow of the ship. Crews then had to ensure a clear path for the ship back to port, and, on Sunday, began the final preparations for it to be refloated.

Gov. Wes Moore, scheduled to provide an update later this afternoon, was shown watching the operation in a post by his spokesman on X, formerly Twitter. He was on a boat, about 500 feet from the Dali, when the vessel began moving.