Bridging the Gap

Displacement: Ship and Business

In “The Star Spangled Banner,” Francis Scott Key wrote of the broad stripes and bright stars, so gallantly streaming.

That was 1814.

It’s likely Francis Scott Key didn’t anticipate the much less-gallantly streaming traffic in and over the Port of Baltimore as a result last month’s collapse of a bridge named after him.

MV Dali is a container ship nearly as long as the Eiffel Tower. She can hold 9,971 containers.

On the morning of the accident, Dali carried 4,700 containers (including some  764 tons of hazardous materials ⏤ corrosives, flammables, and Class 9 materials), a crew of 22, and two pilots. Headed for Sri Lanka, she lost power, including the steering, just out of port and collided with the bridge while traveling at 9 mph.

(This wasn’t Dali’s first incident. In 2014, Dali collided with and damaged the Port of Antwerp, Belgium’s berth; both ship and port required repair.)

While the reconstruction might take years, the national impact of this sudden closure, both on water- and roadways, might be marginal. Vehicles have fairly convenient access to alternate routes that, for 3PL concerns, can readily handle commercial freight. Nearby regional ports (i.e., in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia) can accommodate container ships that were otherwise headed for Baltimore. Amazon has a fulfillment center just north of the bridge; no doubt they can move what they need to their many fulfillment and distribution centers in the region.

Local impact, though, might be greater. In the transportation realm, consider the owner-operator who’s based near either end of the Francis Scott Key Bridge; alternate routes often involve needing more fuel, more time. And consider the carrier who has regular runs to and from the Port of Baltimore; that opportunity is dried up for the foreseeable future.

And the local business community. Yesterday, the Small Business Administration “opened two centers in the area to help companies get loans to assist them with losses caused by the disruption of the bridge collapse.” Loans of up to $2 million will be available to compensate for problems like supply-chain disruptions and decreased visits to businesses that were accessed via the bridge.

These businesses have locals, regulars. Yet, the accident will affect more than 8,000 jobs for an unknown amount of time. Here’s hoping that the salvage, demolition, and reconstruction crews compensate for the displacement.