When did Baltimore’s Key Bridge Collapse? From longshoremen to charter boats, it means lost work, according to Scott Cowan, the Port of Baltimore
The Francis Scott Key Bridge was struck by a container ship early Tuesday morning setting off a chain of events. The bridge had fallen into the River, its twisted metal draped over the ship and its containers. Some construction workers and their cars went into the water. Two of the workers are dead; four are still missing and presumed dead. And the whole disaster is now blocking one of the country’s busiest ports, the Port of Baltimore.
Scott Cowan is president of International Longshoremen’s Association Local 333 in Baltimore and says that quite a few are out of work. He represents 2,400 dockworkers and ILA members in the Port of Baltimore.
These are the workers who load and unload ships at the port. They operate cranes. They deliver cargo. They do maintenance on equipment. They perform clerical work like timekeeping and recording the movement of cargo.
“Some of our maintenance guys and mechanics are still going to work to maintain the equipment in the facility,” says Cowan. “But the bulk of our work is the unloading and loading. That’s where the labor-intensive jobs are, where we use a lot of people. … That’s not happening right now.
How long it takes to get the shipping channel cleared will determine how deeply port workers are affected — and the size of the impact to Maryland’s economy. The shipping channel has been closed, costing $191 million a day in lost economic activity.
The state has set up a dedicated unemployment line for workers affected by the port closure. According to a Maryland Department of Labor spokeswoman, less than 200 workers have made unemployment claims the day after the collapse.
And the Maryland Senate president, Sen. Bill Ferguson, said earlier this week that he will sponsor emergency legislation to provide income replacement for workers impacted by the port’s closure.
I don’t think the impact on Baltimore’s longshoremen is going to last: “I believe the cargo will rebound here quite strongly and we will be going into the Christmas season here shortly, bringing goods into this country.” So we should be fine.”
Source: From longshoremen to charter boats, Baltimore’s port closure means lost work
The Saeda Bridge Project: Boat Baltimore to Save a Bridge in the Outskirts of the Baltimore Harbor, When the Blue Tarp Captured
Bobby LaPin is the owner of Boat Baltimore, which offers sailing tours of Baltimore Harbor and the bay. The Saeda is docked at the marina in South Baltimore.
He had been planning to start cruises on April 1. Now he won’t open until May. A blue tarp was pulled over the sailboat’s deck.
He says they pushed back the opening day because they didn’t want to create too much confusion in the harbor. “I don’t want to book people who are trying to get on the boat to see the extent of the bridge, as well as people who are simply looking to go on the boat.”
Normally he’d be hiring deckhands and captains to work for the summer, folks who work the winter in Florida and the summer up north. But for now, he’s holding off any hiring.
He says it’s too early to tell exactly what will be the impact on his business, but he expects bookings from tourists and conventioneers to decline for a time. Since the collapse of the bridge means access to theChesapeake won’t be available, he cannot take longer, more lucrative bookings where he would sail out to the bay.
The top priority is to clear the channel so shipping can start. They have to build a bridge after that. “But when they build a bridge, they need to block the channel to do so. So, you know, are we even going to have a bridge again?”
The bridge alone could cost up to $1 billion, according to experts. The total cost of the disaster is going to go up because of insurance costs.
Benjamin Schafer says that it won’t be necessary to close the channel during the bridge construction. This has been a challenge for bridge builders for at least the late 19th century, and there are a number of techniques that can allow the channel to stay open.
The Baltimore Peninsula Marina is a beautiful waterfront marina. Is it still a crime scene? A new waterfront activity for recreational boaters at Port Covington
The boats were moored at the Port Covington Marina on Thursday. The giant ships are diverted to other moorings next to the terminal. Apartments, office space and restaurants are all found in the new buildings of Baltimore Peninsula, just inland from the marina.
Alex is the waterfront operations manager at the company that’s developing the peninsula. The season for recreational boaters starts in the late April or early May, but this time of year is quiet at the marina.
Even though the bridge collapse and the port shut down, Snider talks about everything that’s planned at the marina in the months ahead. We’ve got the Baltimore Dragon Boat Club’s going to be rowing out of here this year. It’s very busy.
“It was a beautiful bridge,” he says. “I’ve captained boats under that bridge hundreds of times.” It’s going to be a weird few years, not having that there visually.”
There was a scene like a crime scene at the site of the bridge collapse in Baltimore, where police were keeping people and drones away.
Pieces of the bridge still blocked off the Patapsco River, and partially submerged girders still flanked the huge container ship that smashed into the bridge on Tuesday.
The bodies of two construction workers who were on the bridge at the time of the crash were recovered last week, and a search is ongoing for four others.
Baltimore Bridge Collapse, as Cleanup begins: “No timeline” to recover four bodies after Baltimore Bridge collapse, as cleanup begins” – the U.S. Corps of Engineers
“We want to make the families feel comfortable and at peace.” Because of how complex this operation is, there’s no timetable.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has to survey the damage before it will consider moving the ship, which is called Dali. Maryland authorities said that an initial survey found that the hull of the ship was damaged but still intact, which may make it easier to move when the debris clears.
He said that there is 700 feet wide and 50 feet deep, with lots of concrete at the bottom and heavy steel bisecting it. The steel needs to be taken out and the concrete needs to be removed.
The safety board says there is tons of hazardous material in some containers and some of them have been knocked loose. The containers must be stabilized and the vessel must be refloated, Spellmon said, adding that the Coast Guard and the shipping company are in charge of this step.
The responders are working to remove the bridge. Gov. Moore said that the bridge was so large it was equivalent to the size of the Eiffel Tower.
Moore said that this would be accomplished by using the largest operational crane on the East Coast and opening secondary pathways.
The Baltimore Bridge Collision: What it’s gonna tell us about Maryland and how it affects Lloyd’s, insurers and insurance companies
“When the divers are going down … it’s pitch dark, I mean you can only see between a foot to two in front of you, so it’s really a feeling operation,” he said.
This is going to have a big impact on Maryland. Moore said that Maryland didn’t need any favors. “What we need is bipartisan support in order to get our economy back on track, because this is affecting the farmer in Kentucky, this is affecting the auto dealer in Ohio and this is impacting the restaurant in Tennessee, so we have to move swiftly on it.”
Bruce Carnegie-Brown, chairman of the global insurance marketplace Lloyd’s of London, told CNBC that the Baltimore bridge crash is being called the largest ever marine insured loss.
“One of the most important costs is going to be for business interruption, for all the ships that got stuck in port that can’t get out, the ones that can’t get in, all the goods that are being delayed traveling around the world,” Cohn told NPR.
Cargo owners may be able to claim their insurance for the delay that will cost them money. She said there will also be compensation payments because of the lives lost and for any injuries.
Other insurance companies will feel the pressure, which may include those in the U.S., and reinsurers who insured insurers.