The Baltimore bridge collapse was insane and the deaths of six construction workers a tragedy, but the impact on supply chains is being overblown.
US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg’s quote this morning on the Today Show was a bit much. “This will be a major and protracted impact to supply chains”. More like, “this will be a major and protracted news story that unnecessarily freaks people out about supply chains.”
The collapse was insane and the deaths of six construction workers a tragedy, plus the people of Baltimore will no doubt remember it with sadness forever. But that’s another story.
The exact failure of the container ship Dali is still unknown as of this writing, but the video images show a huge vessel losing its lights, and presumably power, briefly gushing black smoke from its funnels, getting its lights back, and then hitting the main bridge support. The bridge collapsed onto the bow of the ship in less than ten seconds.
The Port of Baltimore is now closed with 40+ vessels stuck inside the fallen bridge, and all that were headed into port being rerouted. It is not known how long clearing the passage will take.
In terms of volume, Baltimore is not a vital US port. It ranks 17th in total tonnage, 10th in dry bulk tonnage, and 15th in TEU volume. Alternative east coast ports include New York, Charleston, Savannah, and Virginia all of which are larger.
It is, however, a key port for roll-on/roll-off shipments which include cars, trucks, and farm equipment. This will create some problems for manufacturers like Deere and Caterpillar moving product to overseas markets.
