How Baltimore’s Bridge Collapse Will Affect Supply Chains

The city of Baltimore is still reeling from the tragic collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge early Tuesday morning. Serving over 35,000 people daily, the bridge is an integral part of the city’s infrastructure, and its absence will be felt for years to come.

The bridge also serves as the sole entryway into the Port of Baltimore, the nation's 17th largest by total tons in 2021, and the leading American port for importing and exporting automobiles, light trucks, and construction vehicles.

President Biden stated yesterday his intention for the federal government to cover the entire reconstruction cost. However, cleanup will take months, and constructing a new bridge could span years.

How does this affect the supply chain in the short term? Here’s a roundup of the latest news:

There is no timetable for when ships may be able to move in and out of the channel into the Port of Baltimore, Maryland Governor Wes Moore stated that it’s a priority to get it reopened but didn’t offer any firm details.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg warned of a significant, prolonged disruption to supply chains following the port's closure.
In the short term, drivers will be forced to take different routes, causing significant congestion and added travel time to most highways in and around the region. Kyle Toombs, Chief Strategy Officer at EASE Logistics, expects an increase in the rate of goods and transportation as the capacity in Baltimore decreases.
During an appearance on Morning Joe Wednesday, Moore highlighted the economic ramifications beyond Baltimore. “We're talking over 51 million tons of foreign cargo, the largest in the country. We're talking about the largest port for vehicles, for heavy trucks, for agriculture equipment. So, this is not just going to impact Maryland. This is impacting farmers in Kentucky. It's impacting auto dealers in Michigan. This is impacting the entire country.”
General Motors and Ford announced plans to reroute affected shipments and said they are not worried about potential repercussions. GM expects “minimal impact” on its operations, while Ford’s chief financial officer has said the supply chain will probably be lengthened “a bit”
According to Olin Business School professor Panos Kouvelis, ports on the West Coast of the United States will experience a significant increase in shipping loads due to the bridge collapse. In the short term, Baltimore-bound shipments will be rerouted to ports in New York, New Jersey, and Norfolk, Va.
While west coast ports will see an increase in shipping, the collapse is not expected to have a significant impact on global shipping, especially compared to the attacks by Houthi militants in the Red Sea and a drought in Panama that has slowed traffic at the Panama Canal.
The bridge's collapse is bad news for local dockworkers, most of whom are day laborers. Scott Cowan, head of the International Longshoreman's Association Local 333 in Baltimore, told Reuters that there’s about a week’s worth of work clearing the destroyed ship’s cargo and “After that, we're dead in the water,” with estimates of a collective $2 million a day in lost wages at stake.
Baltimore serves as one of the busiest U.S. ports for coal exports, with most going to India for electricity generation. “Baltimore is a major port for the export of coal, and it’s not like you can move the coal to another facility because you need specialized facilities for that,” Campbell University history professor Salvatore Mercogliano told The Guardian. “Shutting down the port of Baltimore is going to have a major impact on the transportation of energy out of the United States.”