2024-04-11 22:19:17
The economic consequences of the collapse of the Baltimore bridge, which occurred on March 26, 2024, are significant. The city’s port, the economic hub, is at a standstill, and the transit of products is also very important. The Port of Baltimore is notably the second American port for coal exports.
When everything is normal, for coal trade and transit, the situation from the port of Baltimore is ideal. It is in relative proximity to important production sites in the northern Appalachian Mountains, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. To get to the port, coal takes the train via practically dedicated lines.
Infrastructure difficult to adapt
One of the two terminals also belongs to a railway company which owns the infrastructure network which is obviously almost impossible to modify or adapt quickly. The other is owned by a coal producer, who also does not have many alternatives in terms of infrastructure.
The leading US port for coal exports is Norfolk, Virginia, also on the east coast, but 250 miles further south. It therefore serves other production regions, and adapting rail transport networks cannot be done with the snap of a finger. This is why exporters based in Baltimore are counting the hours until the Patapsco River clears and maritime traffic resumes.
Also read: United States: heavy economic consequences after the collapse of the Baltimore bridge
Potential effects on the other side of the world
So producers are stuck, but their customers could be stuck too. They are found less and less in the United States, where demand for this fossil energy, among the most polluting there is, is declining. These customers are far away, very far away, and the closure of the port of Baltimore, if it continues beyond a few weeks, could also disrupt their production.
Coal exported from Baltimore is used by construction material producers in India or steel producers in Japan and China. So many markets and their prices could be influenced by a prolonged break in their supply chain if, on the other side of the world, the closure of the port of Baltimore were to continue
Read also: Collapsed bridge in Baltimore: reconstruction in the shadow of the presidential campaign
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