Ripples from bridge collapse will give importers a headache

Photo: Baltimore City Fire Department Rescue 1 team

From a container supply chain perspective, the effect from this morning’s incident will probably not be as dramatic as Baltimore’s bridge collapse itself – although it does leave carriers and east coast importers with potential headaches.

Baltimore handles around 1.1m teu a year which, as Verspucci Maritime’s Lars Jensen calculates, is equivalent to 21,000 teu a week that will need to find alternative gateways. And while it may not be the largest in terms of container numbers, the port does have ...