By Rob Wile and Shannon Pettypiece -
NBC News
East Coast and Midwest customers expecting goods transported through the Port of Baltimore could see significant cost increases as a result of Tuesday's collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in that city.
In a statement made public after the collapse of the structure, the American Trucking Association estimated that some 4,900 trucks a day, transporting an annual average of $28 billion in goods, will have to be diverted, an expense that would be passed on to the carriers and, ultimately, consumers.
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“The Key Bridge and the Port of Baltimore are critical components of our country's infrastructure and supply chain,” the association said.
“Apart from the obvious tragedy, this incident will have significant and lasting repercussions on the region.”
He noted that the biggest impact will likely occur on shipments of hazardous materials, such as diesel, which are not allowed to pass through tunnels.
The Singapore freighter after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key bridge.Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images
The closure, the association said, “will add a significant cost in time, fuel and delays to trucks traveling through the region, in addition to the disruption that a closure of the Port of Baltimore will inflict on our economy.”
“We urge state and federal government agencies to quickly allocate appropriate resources to open the port and replace this bridge as soon as possible,” he said.
A spokesman for the Council for the Safe Transportation of Dangerous Goods declined to comment on the situation.
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The collapse has been attributed to a Singapore freighter that lost power and collided with a bridge pylon early on Tuesday.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore declared a state of emergency and President Joe Biden promised that he would allocate federal resources to address the situation.
Baltimore is the largest entry point in the United States for large agricultural and construction equipment, such as tractors, combines,
fork lifts
, excavators and heavy trucks bound for the Midwest, according to DAT Freight and Analytics, a freight analysis service.
Any disruption to the transportation and shipments of farm and construction equipment would come at an especially bad time, as farmers in the Midwest begin planting this year's crops, while construction gains momentum in colder climates as the soil begins to thaw, said Dean Croke, principal analyst at DAT.
“I think it has a huge economic impact on the agricultural industry,” Croke said.
“This is peak planting season in the Midwest and peak machinery import season.
March is the largest month for machinery entering the United States through Baltimore,” he added.
Companies may have to redirect their shipments to nearby ports, such as those in Georgia or Florida, he explained.
That will mean higher freight costs as trucks will have to travel farther and may have to wait longer to pick up their loads if those ports become congested, Croke said.
After the complete collapse of the bridge, it could take up to a year for logistical normality to be restored, said Tinglong Dai, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School.
“It is very difficult to estimate the impact on [transportation] costs, but it is fair to say that it is going to be more expensive to transport cars and trucks to and from the United States in the short term, due to the immense impact on the port of Baltimore,” he explained. .