The auto companies are trying to figure out port deliveries for foreign-made cars

The Impact of the Key Bridge’s Decay on Baltimore and the Import and Export of Heavy Goods in the Twenty-Year Old Port

With the Port of Baltimore suspended because of the crash, trucks are still moving goods in and out of the area according to the Maryland Port Administration. The crash will have a significant effect on the region, as Baltimore is the ninth busiest port in the United States for international trade.

There are some alternatives for ships coming into the port and trucks crossing the river. The Key Bridge used to be part of Maryland Route 695 but can now be accessed from the two tunnels that traverse the Patapsco. Many of the goods normally handled by Baltimore’s port will be able to be accepted by other nearby ports.

But the shipping picture will get more complicated the longer the disaster takes to resolve. Changes to their routes can add a lot of time, as ships haul heavy items in large quantities across the oceans. A hold up along the way can cause a lot of people to scream for supplies, if a bunch of different cargo is being hauled by a ship.

“Everyone is saying, ‘We’re just going to reroute, it’s going to be fine,'” stated an expert in supply chain management. It is not going to be okay if this lasts a long time. It is going to affect prices.

The bridge’s destruction shows that boats are getting bigger. The trade transport volume has tripled over the past 30 years. The ballooning shipping industry is seen by the nearly 1,000 feet long Dali.

Simple economics dictates that boats grow because the more goods you can cram onto a ship, the more you save on costs. According to Zal, the amount of cargo has increased greatly. “This has been impacted to a great degree by Covid, and after Covid as well. Prices of cargo and containers went up a lot. Everything just went through the roof.”

Tradepoint Atlantic, Baltimore, during the Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapse, to accept redirected cargo, with an emphasis on the problem of the bridge’s survivors

When the Francis Scott Key Bridge was struck by a cargo ship and collapsed, it was a shocking disaster that took the lives of six men working on the bridge at the time, four of whom are presumed dead.

They emphasized that they were adapting. GM says it’s moving deliveries around. There is a plan being work on by Stellantis. Mercedes says it has things to choose from. Mazda says it has yet to finalize alternatives to this “vital” port. It’s not easy.

Rerouting an imported vehicle is more difficult than redirecting a shipping container. Not all ports are equally equipped to unload the vessels that carry vehicles — a special “roll-on roll-off,” or ro-ro ship.

It’s a big reason why the vessels can’t be sent just anywhere, even if you can get them off the ship at another port, who is going to install the subwoofer for them.

The Tradepoint Atlantic terminal is located at the mouth of the harbor, before the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Volkswagen and BMW operate there, and as a result, those two automakers expect no impacts from the disaster. On Wednesday, a ship with Volkswagens arrived and was able to dock like normal.

Tradepoint Atlantic says its operation is “well equipped to handle additional levels of [vehicle] cargo. Plans to accept redirected cargo are underway, including the ability to handle the increased capacity.”

“Our thoughts are with all of those impacted by this collapse,” Bethann Rooney, port director, said in a statement, adding that the port “is proactively working with our industry partners to respond as needed and ensure supply chain continuity along the East Coast.”

Baltimore will benefit from those two options, even as the city reels from the loss of the bridge. The local economy would be boosted by some port jobs, as the waterways are blocked.

For instance, the second busiest port for cars after Baltimore is in Georgia, and Mercedes and Subsidiary also have large processing operations there.

Officials at Brunswick say that the port has been contacted by companies as an interim solution while the Baltimore port is partially blocked, and that the port has unused capacity to process another 200,000 vehicles per year.