The collapse of a major bridge along a crucial trade corridor outside Baltimore idled shipping at one of the East Coast’s busiest ports, tied up coal shipments and pushed retailers, truckers and industrial firms to reroute shipping volumes to contain the economic fallout of the catastrophic event.
“I think the impact will be rather local,” said Mirko Woitzik, global director of intelligence solutions for supply-chain risk management company Everstream Analytics. Importers will largely be able to route their shipments through Norfolk and the Port of New York and New Jersey instead, he said.