Supply chain experts weigh in on how the Baltimore bridge collapse could impact the Miami Valley

Supply chain experts say the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, could impact the Miami Valley.

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As reported on News Center 7 at 5:00, Michael Gorman has been teaching students at the University of Dayton about transportation and the supply chain for the past 20 years. He said if the Miami Valley were to feel the impacts of the collapse, it would not take long to feel it.

“You know, a month or two, but it’ll be small,” Gorman said. “A lot of the stuff that is being exported from Baltimore is going to the far east in things like coal and gypsum.”

Gorman said those are items we don’t typically buy at the store here in the Miami Valley, but for other items, there could be a problem down the line.

“Import vehicles is probably the number one thing that Baltimore handles that might have some effect around the Midwest,” Gorman said.

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Chris Tobey from Key Chrysler Dodge Dealership in Xenia told News Center 7 that he hasn’t heard of any possible impacts on getting cars or car parts.

“Baltimore is not a big harbor, although it does do a lot of vehicles, there are other ways to get vehicles into the U.S. and all the major manufacturers are finding alternative routes they get around Baltimore harbor,” Gorman said.

This is something we saw businesses do during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Businesses like Foremost Seafood in Kettering learned how to get around those supply chain issues.

“Because of the route that we take and where it’s coming from. Some products like maybe crab cakes or something might be affected eventually, supply perhaps, but that for us, it’s a frozen product and usually they have a pretty good supply for things like that,” said Pamela Patterson.

Patterson reached out to their vendors asking if they had any idea about possible issues down the line.

“It’s a little bit early for anybody to you know say for sure, they couldn’t definitively say and some had not even kind of considered that,” Patterson said. “Being that our hub is in Boston, I was pretty sure that it shouldn’t be impacted for us.”

Gorman said that right now manufacturers that have imports or exports at the Baltimore harbor are having to reroute their supplies

We will continue updating this story.