Baltimore bridge collapse to impact ports across the East Coast, including many in NC

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Ports on the East Coast are preparing to take on shipments due to the bridge collapse in Baltimore.

Tuesday, a container ship crashed into one of the pillars of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, causing it to collapse.

Rob Handfield, Professor of Supply Chain Management at N.C. State, says it’s likely to have an impact on the global supply chain.

“The port of Baltimore is one of the fifth largest ports on the East Coast. A lot of what they handle are what they call roll on, roll off, which is vehicles that are produced in other areas and imported into the U.S., as well as automobile exports. They also impact a lot of farm equipment,” said Handfield.

That disruption could have an impact on other ports on the East Coast including North Carolina, specifically Wilmington which has a port about 474 nautical miles away from the Port of Baltimore.

“Baltimore handles a lot of coal for instance, but they also handle a lot of lumber and steel and so those are areas where Wilmington has a lot of capabilities so they may be handling more cargo as a result of that bridge collapse,” said Handfield.

CBS 17 reached out to the North Carolina State Ports Authority about what kind of impact this could have on the port. In a statement Executive Director, Brian Clark said,

“Customers are now evaluating their supply chain options and NC Ports stands ready to assist and support the larger supply chain network as needed.”

Handfield says he doesn’t expect the bridge collapse to have too big of an impact on ports or customers.

“There could be some delays, but I think people are already making plans to work around this disaster,” said Handfield.

Some of the other ports likely to take on shipments include Delaware, Philidelphia and Virginia.

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