KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — After a cargo ship rammed into a major bridge in Baltimore early Tuesday morning, destroying it and potentially disrupting the port for months, leaders in Knoxville are wondering if its impact will be felt here.
Six people are presumed dead in the bridge collapse, and a search for them was suspended until Wednesday morning. The ship's crew issued a mayday call moments before the crash, helping prevent more deaths by giving first responders the chance to keep more drivers from heading onto the bridge before it collapsed.
It sent debris into the water that may shut down ship traffic for a while. Maryland Governor Wes Moore said more than 52 million tons of foreign cargo worth around $80 billion were taken out of the port of Baltimore in 2023, making it the 11th-largest port in the U.S.
Axle Logistics, a Knoxville-based logistics company, said it is still working to determine how its business may be affected.
"It's still kind of small in the grand scheme of things, from what we are hearing today and the customers we've had conversations with. But, you just don't know," said Shawn McLeod, the president of Axle Logistics.
The company employs around 600 people in East Tennessee and relies on consistent and punctual deliveries across the country. Experts in supply chain management said the impact may be noticeable in Knoxville, but also said it should be short-term and relatively small.
"You have goods going into one destination, and now they can't get there and they hit other ports. Not only do you have customers with set pricing for, say, one year that's going to affect the cost of a good on the shelf — but now if you have to increase that transit time or re-route to a different port and then that shipment sits, now there's an urgency to get it out," said Alex Scott, a professor of supply chain management at the University of Tennessee.
While the bridge collapse may send ripples through the national supply chain, it's not likely to hurt worldwide trade because Baltimore is not a major port for container vessels. Most of the products arriving include auto parts and farm equipment, the Associated Press reported.