The cargo ship Dali is seen after running into and collapsing the Francis Scott Key Bridge Baltimore on March 26.Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
Ships sailing to the U.S. port of Baltimore dropped anchor in waters nearby while vessels were stranded inside the port after traffic was halted following a bridge collapse, shipping data showed on Tuesday.
A 948-foot container ship smashed into a four-lane bridge in the port in darkness early on Tuesday, causing it to collapse and sending cars and people plunging into the river below.
Port traffic was suspended until further notice, Maryland transportation authorities said.
At least 13 vessels that were expected to load coal were anchored near to Baltimore port, according to analysis from data and analytics group Kpler.
Other vessels waiting nearby included container and cargo ships, separate ship tracking data from MarineTraffic showed.
Three vessels inside the port had been due to load commodities, while other smaller ships, including pleasure crafts, were also unable to leave, separate data showed.
The Klara Oldendorff, one of the dry bulk vessels inside Baltimore port, was undamaged but ship transits were halted until further notice, the vessel’s Germany-based owner Oldendorff Carriers told Reuters.
Container shipping traffic was also impacted.
Explainer: Why did the bridge in Baltimore collapse and what do we know about the ship?
U.S. automakers General Motors and Ford will reroute affected shipments, but the companies said on Tuesday the impact will be minimal.
“We expect the situation to have minimal impact to our operations. We are working to re-route any vehicle shipments to other ports,” GM said in a statement.
The Port of Baltimore is the busiest U.S. port for car shipments, handling at least 750,000 vehicles in 2023, according to data from the Maryland Port Administration. Motor vehicles and parts accounted for 42% of all Baltimore port imports.
Ford Chief Financial Officer John Lawler said the bridge collapse, which happened after a container ship smashed into the four-lane bridge early on Tuesday, will force the automaker to divert parts to other ports and impact its supply chain.
“It’s going to have an impact,” Lawler told Bloomberg News. “We’ll have to divert parts to other ports... It will probably lengthen the supply chain a bit.”
Ford told Reuters in a separate statement “where workarounds are necessary in the short term, our team has already secured shipping alternatives.”
Industry officials said it was too early to say what impact the accident will have on the auto sector.
“But there will certainly be a disruption,” said John Bozzella, CEO of the auto trade group Alliance for Automotive Innovation. “Baltimore is the No. 1 automobile port in the U.S., and we’re in touch with federal officials to help them understand the scale of automotive operations there.”
Breakwave Advisors managing partner John Kartsonas, a shipping analyst and investor, said Baltimore is a significant port for imports of consumer goods, cars and other imports.
“There are a lot of other areas that can pick up the slack like the New York Harbor and all the way down to Savannah, Georgia,” he said in an email. “It will take a while for the situation to resolve and to begin operating normally again, so definitely there will be delays in deliveries of goods.”
Other transportation companies reported no major impact.
“While Baltimore is not a primary port for our North American operations, there will be some impact, primarily on vehicle exports,” Toyota said in a statement. “At this time, we do not anticipate a significant disruption, but we are evaluating the situation closely to determine the longer term impact and countermeasures.”
Volkswagen Group of America said it was not impacted because its Baltimore facility is located on the easterly sea board of the bridge collapse, while Nissan said it did not expect significant impact at this time.
BMW said the car docks are located on the ocean side of the harbor, so there was no major impact expected as the bridge collapse will not affect ships. It added that land-side truck traffic would be rerouted.
Mercedes said the incident has had no impact on vehicle exports or the company’s Tuscaloosa, Alabama, plant’s parts supply, and it was monitoring the situation. It said it uses ports in Baltimore, as well as in Georgia and South Carolina, for vehicle imports.
Volvo Group, which makes trucks, construction equipment and engines, said it was looking over its inventory in its U.S. production facilities to see if and when there could be a disturbance in worst-case scenarios, adding it currently expected no huge impact.
Top Danish container shipping group Maersk said due to the damage to the bridge and resulting debris, it was omitting Baltimore port from all its services “for the foreseeable future, until it is deemed safe for passage through this area.”
The container ship Dali, which collided with the bridge on Tuesday, was chartered by Maersk at the time of the incident in Baltimore.
“With most of Baltimore’s port terminals and all of its container terminals behind the collapsed bridge, containerized exports at or planning to depart from Baltimore will either need to wait until the waterway re-opens, or be rerouted by truck or rail to alternate ports,” said Judah Levine of global freight platform Freightos.
Those could include Philadelphia, or the more major hubs like Norfolk, New York and New Jersey, Levine said.
“Exporters choosing these options could face increased trucking and rail rates if enough volumes are shifted to other ports.” Baltimore port’s private and public terminals handled 847,158 autos and light trucks in 2023, the most of any U.S. port.
The port also handles farm and construction machinery, sugar, gypsum and coal, according to a Maryland government website.
It was unclear how many car carriers were affected.
“While Baltimore is not one of the largest U.S. East Coast ports, it still imports and exports more than one million containers each year, so there is the potential for this to cause significant disruption to supply chains,” said Emily Stausbøll, market analyst at Xeneta, an ocean freight shipping rate benchmarking and intelligence platform.
Stausbøll said the incident would add to challenges to ocean freight services - including drought in the Panama Canal and attacks on Red Sea shipping - which have pushed Far East to U.S. East Coast rates up by 150% in recent months.
A container ship has rammed into a major bridge in Baltimore, causing it to snap and plunge into the river below. Several vehicles fell into the chilly waters early Tuesday, and rescuers continue to search for survivors.
The Associated Press