The Baltimore Bridge Collapse: What Is the Economic Impact?

First modification: 03/28/2024 – 01:18

3 min

Nine years planning it and five to build it, but the Francis Scott Key It collapsed in eight seconds after the impact of the Singapore-flagged container ship Dali. The death toll rises to six, as indicated by the US Government.

According to the United States Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, the effect on the US economy of the blockade of the port of Baltimore after the collapse of the bridge “will not be trivial”.

And although he resisted specifying the cost of the bridge collapse, he explained that the value of the goods that circulate through the port facilities every day is between 100 and 200 million dollars a day. The loss of maritime traffic is also estimated to cost $9 million a day.

Opinions of analysts collected in the American press coincide:

“The economic cost will depend on the number of days that the port remains unusable”explained Gary Hufbauer, researcher at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, to Barron's, a weekly newspaper published by Dow Jones.

The automobile industry, the most affected

The port of Baltimore is 9th busiest port in the US and the busiest for automobile transportation, with at least 750,000 vehicles in 2023, according to data from the Maryland Port Administration.

The manufacturers General Motors and Ford have announced that they will redirect affected shipments and they made it clear that the impact was going to be minimal. “We hope that the situation will have minimal impact on our operations. We are working to redirect vehicle shipments to other ports“General Motors said in a statement to Reuters. But there are more affected.

So far this month, Mazda has been the company that imported the most imports through Baltimore by dollar valuefollowed by Mercedes-Benz, Subaru, Mitsubishi and Volkswagen, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

As the manufacturer Mercedes-Benz, another business shark in the port of Baltimore, told Bloomberg: “we are in close contact with our logistics service providers and are continually monitoring the situation.” The German automaker added that it has “several options available in its flexible supply chain network.”

Therefore, companies that depend on Baltimore's port facilities will diversify shipments to other ports, which analysts believe will be New York and New Jersey. Because in addition to automotive, Other industries also depend on the port: heavy agricultural machinery, construction and coal.

Six Latin American workers presumed dead

This Wednesday, March 27, the authorities found the lifeless bodies of two of the six workers presumed dead in the bridge collapse. They are the Mexican Alejandro Fernández Fuentes, 35 years old, and the Guatemalan Dorlián Castillo Cabrera, 26 years old, the Maryland Police announced at a press conference.

Both were part of a group of eight construction workers, all Latin Americans, who were filling potholes on the Francis Scott Key Bridge when the Dali ship hit the infrastructure. Two of them were rescued alive, while the other six were presumed dead.

Although the identity of the majority of the deceased has not been revealed, their nationalities are known: two Mexicans, one Salvadoran, one Honduran and two Guatemalans.

The authorities are already investigating the causes of the accident, The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has the ship's black box in its possessionwhich is being analyzed.

The Department of Transportation recounted the four priorities of the moment: Reopen the port, deal with supply chain disruptions until it reopens, rebuild the bridge, and deal with the implications for land transportation until it is rebuilt.