12 days after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, borderline agriculture logistics have been running on alternatives.
The March 16 accident occurred when a container ship from Singapore lost power and bumped onto the bridge’s pillars. Since then, shipping lines have been diverting to other east coast ports.
Backlogging and stranded cargo have been piling costs at the harbour at $15 million a day, the Daily Mail reports.
Supply Chain Gateway
Because the bridge is the gateway for the regional supply chain, its collapse will disrupt distribution to the Midwest.
The port itself ranks 9th in the nation for inbound goods, whose 2023 value hit 52.3 million metric tonnes.
Of these goods, agricultural merchandise accounts for the highest proportion. Baltimore’s strategic location makes it America’s largest entry point for large-scale agricultural goods bound for the eastern and Midwestern destinations.
Tractors, Forklifts, Harvesters
Heavy agricultural equipment from tractors, combine harvesters to trucks all pass here from European and Asian origins.
Luckily for traders, alternatives that have been in place since the COVID-19 supply chain disruption are coming handy. Dealers can manage to temporarily keep their heavy machines at port till things clear up. However, if the bridge’s removal from the harbor delays, storage costs may mount above 15 million dollars a day.
According to Philip Gruber of Lancaster Farming, expenses will only rise when the “inventories will draw down” in the long-term.
Besides, the ample sizes of warehouses at the port are capable to handle huge farm equipment temporarily.
Western States
While the Midwest counts on short-term storage to avert cost pile up, western U.S. will suffer little impact.
According to Ben Hart, the executive director at Utah Inland Port Authority, the state usually relies on connections with California ports.
Ideally, only 100 units of shipments out of an average 1.1 million units that Baltimore port handles pass into Utah.
Agriculturally, Utah is a major source of winter wheat, corn for consumption and silage, as well as beef cattle. Domestic and outbound sales of grain and oilseeds amounted to $106.35 million in 2022 while livestock products hit $1.623 billion.
The port of Baltimore, in its part, generates $2.6 billion in revenue partially from agricultural equipment shipments. For now, there is clearing up work to do of some 1.6 miles of the fallen Maryland bridge’s steel.