Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said he hopes Democrats and Republicans can unite to approve any funds needed for the recovery of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. 

“Infrastructure is— or at least ought to be — a bipartisan priority,” he said. “Today this is happening in Baltimore, but tomorrow it could happen to your district.”

“We really need to stand together — red, blue and purple — to get these things done," he added.

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said it could not be overstated how important the Port of Baltimore is to the local and national economy. 

Buttigieg estimated that between $100 to $200 million in value of goods pass through the port everyday, with about $2 million in wages affected by the closure. 

“If ships aren't moving, they're not working,” Buttigieg said. “Thats one of our main areas of concern.” 

He added that the East Coast is now relying on ports in New York, New Jersey and Virginia will likely have to pick up the slack.

The Dali cargo ship was carrying about 4,700 containers when it crashed against the Francis Scott Key Bridge, officials said. 

US Coast Guard Vice Admiral Peter Gautier said that along with fuel on board, the ship was likely carrying a “very broad cross section of cargo” and consumer goods. 

The Port of Baltimore is the nation’s leading import and export port for cars, light trucks and sugar. 

US Coast Guard Vice Admiral Peter Gautier said the highest priority is to restore the function of the Port of Baltimore and clear up the crash site. 

Gautier said the Coast Guard and workers on the water are looking to restore functions to the Dali ship and remove it from the water to speed up the port’s reopening. 

After the ship, which is covered by steel beams from the bridge, is removed, officials will be aiding federal investigators in their probe on the crash. 

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said there were no estimates on how long it would take to rebuild the Francis Scott Key bridge, or how much it would cost. 

Although Buttigieg acknowledged that the original bridge took five years to construct, but “it doesn’t mean it’ll take five years to replace.” 

President Biden has also vowed to have the federal government cover the entire cost of rebuilding the bridge, which saw about 35,000 vehicles drive through it every day.  

US Coast Guard Vice Admiral Peter Gautier assured the public that any hazardous material from the Dali ship does not pose a threat to the public following Tuesday’s wreck. 

Gautier said that most of the materials of interest were mineral oils and thus there are currently “no hazards or threats” to the public at the moment. 

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said the Francis Scott Key Bridge, built in the 1970s, “was not meant to withstand a direct impact” by a modern cargo vessel. 

He pointed out that the ships that travel in and out of the Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest in the nation, are “orders of magnitude bigger” than the ships used when the bridge was built. 

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the Biden Administration will provide all the aid it can to reopen the Port of Baltimore and rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge to save the 8,000 jobs related to the port activity. 

Buttigieg, who hailed the port as a key trade route in America, said the federal government has four focuses following the collapse of the bridge: reopening the port, dealing with the supply chain disruptions, rebuilding the bridge, and dealing with the vehicle traffic implications.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has called for "a full and thorough investigation" of the collapse of the Francis Key Scott Bridge.

“What led up to this? What made the ship lose power? What made them lose the ability to be ability to steer the ship? Do we have the right infrastructure that’s in place to be able to protect the people of our state,” he said. “So I think there needs to be a full reckoning, a full accountability, and I think we need to go wherever the investigation takes us to make sure that the people of our jurisdictions are safe."

The governor said that experts are still unsure why the Dali lost power, and said that they need to figure that out to prevent further tragedies.

"There needs to be accountability to make sure these things do not happen again and that we have a system in place to make sure they don’t," Moore said.

One truck has been recovered from the water, but at least one vehicle remains hanging from the metal, according to a Homeland Security memo that was described to The Associated Press by a law enforcement official.

The official was not authorized to discuss details of the document or the investigation and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity.

Gov. Wes Moore on Wednesday praised divers who have spent hours in frigid water.

“They are down there in darkness where they can literally see about a foot in front of them,” he said.

“They are trying to navigate mangled metal and they’re also in a place it is now presumed that people have lost their lives, so the work of these first responders, the work of these divers, I cannot stress enough how remarkable these individuals are.”

Officials investigating the ship crash that caused Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge to collapse early Tuesday have recovered the vessel’s black box data recorder.

National Transport Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy told reporters Wednesday that the black box will help investigators create a timeline of events outlining what went wrong when the Dali cargo ship crashed into the bridge.