Dali cargo ship to be refloated and relocated

(NBC, KYMA/KECY) - The cargo ship that crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing it to collapse, is ready to be refloated and relocated.

The Unified Command announced Saturday that it plans to refloat the Dali at high tide on Monday, which is predicted to be around 5:00am Eastern.

Officials say the entire refloat and transit process will take an estimated 21 hours from start to finish.

The process involves releasing some of the anchors and mooring lines and de-ballasting more than one million gallons of water from the ship.

Once refloated, five tugboats will then escort the Dali about two-and-a-half miles at roughly one mile per hour to the Seagirt Marine Terminal.

Last week, crews used explosives in the partial demolition of the largest remaining steel span of the Key Bridge that was stubbornly resting on top of the vessel.