Shipping in and out of the Port of Baltimore was suspended after the collapse of the nearby Francis Scott Key Bridge, confirmed Maryland’s transportation secretary on Tuesday.
“Vessel traffic into and out of the port of Baltimore is suspended until further notice, but the port is still open for truck transactions,” said Paul Wiedefeld, Maryland’s secretary of transportation, during a press conference on Tuesday.
Earlier on Tuesday, a large container ship chartered by Maersk struck the bridge, causing a significant portion of the structure to collapse and sending vehicles into the water.
In a statement, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore declared a state of emergency and is working “to quickly deploy federal resources” to deal with the catastrophe.
“We are thankful for the brave men and women who are carrying out efforts to rescue those involved and pray for everyone’s safety,” he said. “We will remain in close contact with federal, state, and local entities that are carrying out rescue efforts as we continue to assess and respond to this tragedy.”
Shipping giant Maersk confirmed to news outlets that the firm was chartering the container ship that struck the bridge, which is a part of Interstate 695, a key route in Maryland. The Dali container vessel is owned by Singapore’s Grace Ocean and managed by Synergy Marine Group.
“We are closely following the investigations conducted by authorities and Synergy, and we will do our utmost to keep our customers informed,” Maersk told news outlets.
Local officials have said there was no indication that the event was intentional. President Joe Biden was briefed on the incident, and there was no indication of nefarious intent, the White House said in a statement Tuesday.
Supply Chain Issues?
The closure of one of the East Coast’s major ports threatens to disrupt supplies of goods from cars, to coal and other commodities like sugar. It could create bottlenecks and increase delays and costs on the Northeastern seaboard, experts say. The port handles the most car imports and is among the largest for coal exports.Analysts said that any prolonged problems at the Port of Baltimore will cause reverberations across the country, namely the mid-Atlantic states.
It also means, according to Mr. Jensen, that cargo that is gated into the port terminals will have to wait for an “unknown period” or “be gated back out and shifted to a different port.”
She added: “Far East to US East Coast ocean freight services have already been impacted by drought in the Panama Canal and recent conflict in the Red Sea, which saw rates increase by 150 percent, so this latest incident will add to those concerns.”
“It is likely other larger U.S. East Coast ports such as neighboring New York/New Jersey and Virginia can handle additional container imports if Baltimore is inaccessible, which may limit any impact on ocean freight shipping rates,“ the analyst added. ”However, there is only so much port capacity available and this will leave supply chains vulnerable to any further pressure.”
One question that remains is if freight carriers can quickly divert vessels to other ports, namely for ships that are already traveling to Baltimore or the containers waiting inside the Port of Baltimore, Ms. Stausoll said.
