The closure of the Port of Baltimore will be felt far from Chesapeake Bay but tempered by excess capacity at other ports and on US highways, analysts and industry sources say.
Problems could range from shortages of drayage and flatbed capacity on the East Coast to delays and higher costs for the delivery of goods rerouted to other ports. While it’s unknown how long Baltimore’s port will be closed, most knock-on impacts are expected to be short-lived and specific to certain markets and industrial verticals.
“It’s peak season for flatbed work out of Baltimore, and the supply of agricultural and construction equipment to the Midwest could be disrupted,” Dean Croke, principal analyst at DAT Freight & Analytics, told the Journal of Commerce.
That’s one of many potential challenges shippers and trucking companies might see in the wake of the port closure after a container ship struck and collapsed the Francis Scott Key Bridge early Tuesday, Croke and other industry sources said.
The immediate issue for shippers, warehouse operators and carriers in the Baltimore area was how to keep freight moving. “The loss of the bridge has been impactful, as that’s a big hazmat route,” said John Luciani, COO of LTL Solutions for regional less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier A. Duie Pyle.
Trucks carrying hazardous materials are banned from the Baltimore harbor tunnels on I-95 and I-895 and use the I-695 beltway around Baltimore. The collapsed bridge is on the eastern half of that route, which means trucks must detour to the west.
Luciani said traffic congestion has increased since the bridge collapse but called that an “inconvenience” rather than a significant problem. “The impact is probably an additional 30 minutes” as trucks take alternate routes around Baltimore, he said.
Details please refer to JOC news.
Source:
Cassidy, W. B. (2024, March 27). Trucking squeezed, but not crushed, by Baltimore Port Closure. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/trucking-squeezed-not-crushed-baltimore-port-closure_20240327.html