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Delivering traffic freezes up in port waters after Baltimore bridge collapse

Ships cruising to the U.S. port of Baltimore dropped anchor in waters close by while vessels were stranded inside the port after traffic was stopped following a bridge collapse, shipping data revealed on Tuesday.

A 948-foot container ship smashed into a four-lane bridge in the port in darkness early on Tuesday, triggering it to collapse and sending out cars and people plunging into the river below.

Port traffic was suspended till more notification, Maryland transportation authorities said.

At least 13 vessels that were anticipated to pack coal were anchored close to Baltimore port, according to analysis from data and analytics group Kpler.

Other vessels waiting nearby included container and cargo ships, different ship tracking data from MarineTraffic showed.

Three vessels inside the port had been because of load commodities, while other smaller ships, consisting of satisfaction crafts, were also unable to leave, different data revealed.

The Klara Oldendorff, among the dry bulk vessels inside Baltimore port, was undamaged but ship transits were halted until more notice, the vessel's Germany-based owner Oldendorff Carriers told .

Container shipping traffic was likewise affected.

Top Danish container shipping group Maersk said due to the damage to the bridge and resulting debris, it was omitting Baltimore port from all its services for the foreseeable future, up until it is considered safe for passage through this area.

The container ship Dali, which collided with the bridge on Tuesday, was chartered by Maersk at the time of the occurrence in Baltimore.

With the majority of Baltimore's port terminals and all of its container terminals behind the collapsed bridge, containerized exports at or planning to depart from Baltimore will either require to wait till the waterway re-opens, or be rerouted by truck or rail to alternate ports, said Judah Levine of international freight platform Freightos.

Those might consist of Philadelphia, or the more major centers like Norfolk, New York City and New Jersey, Levine stated.

Exporters picking these choices could face increased trucking and rail rates if adequate volumes are moved to other ports. Baltimore port's public and personal terminals handled 847,158 autos and light trucks in 2023, the most of any U.S. port.

The port likewise handles farm and building and construction machinery, gypsum, sugar and coal, according to a Maryland federal government website.

It was uncertain how many cars and truck providers were affected.

While Baltimore is not one of the largest U.S. East Coast ports, it still exports and imports more than one million containers each year, so there is the potential for this to cause significant disruption to supply chains, stated Emily Stausbøll, market expert at Xeneta, an ocean freight shipping rate benchmarking and intelligence platform.

Stausbøll stated the occurrence would add to challenges to ocean freight services - including dry spell in the Panama Canal and attacks on Red Sea shipping - which have actually pushed Far East to U.S. East Coast rates up by 150% in current months.

(source: Reuters)