Baltimore is a mid-sized port which carries around 1.1 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per year, he said. In contrast, New York carries 9 million.
“It is going to have a disruption, particularly over the car import and export industry because Baltimore was ranked the number one in the United States for car import and export,” he noted.
However, a lot of its cargo traffic can be diverted to nearby ports, such as New York, Hampton Roads in Virginia, Savannah in Georgia, and other smaller ports around the Eastern Seaboard, he said.
Another sector which will be affected is the coal industry, as Baltimore is a key exporter of coal, particularly to India, noted Prof Rodrigue.
IN LINE WITH SAFETY CODES
Local authorities had said that the Francis Scott Key Bridge was in line with safety codes before its collapse.
“It was designed for codes and standards of 50 years ago, with steels that were in common use 50 years ago,” civil and structural engineer Julian Carter, director of British firm By Julian Limited, told CNA’s World Tonight on Wednesday.
