At about 1:30 a.m. on the morning of March 26, a 948-foot container ship named Dali smashed into the four-lane Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing its immediate collapse and sending cars and people into the Patapsco river below.
The Baltimore Fire Department is calling it a "mass casualty event," however the number of those deceased or injured as a result of the disaster is still unknown and still remains under investigation.
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Affected by the disaster is the nearby Port of Baltimore — the busiest U.S. port for car shipments. According to a report by Automotive News, Baltimore port's private and public terminals handled 847,158 autos and light trucks in 2023, the most of any U.S. port.
With the port handling imports, exports and parts shipments for major automakers like Audi, Bentley, BMW, Ford, General Motors, Jaguar-Land Rover, Lamborghini, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Stellantis, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo, the disaster is set to have a ripple effect throughout the industry, though some automakers are already coming out to dissuade any sentiments of chaos.
Ford (F) CFO John Lawler said in a March 26 interview on Bloomberg TV that the company knows how to handle supply chain interruptions and will be able to find a workaround for the time being.
“It’s a large port with a lot of flow through it, so it’s going to have an impact,” Lawler told Bloomberg TV. “We’ll work on the workarounds. We’ll have to divert parts to other ports along the East Coast or elsewhere in the country.”
In a statement, General Motors (GM) said it expects "minimal impact" from the port closing and is working to reroute its vehicle shipments that have come through the Port of Baltimore to avoid the affected area.
Similarly, representatives from BMW (BMWYY) told Bloomberg that other than traffic issues, it doesn’t expect the bridge collapse to have “any immediate impact" on its business. A spokesperson for Volkswagen (VLKAF) told Auto News it also anticipated traffic issues to be an impact on its truckers.
User @GuyDealership on X (formerly known as Twitter), posted a internal bulletin notice regarding the bridge collapse by Jaguar Land Rover (TENHF) to its dealers which states that the delivery of an estimated 800 vehicles will be affected.
Baltimore Bridge disruptions begin:
— Car Dealership Guy (@GuyDealership) March 26, 2024
Jaguar Land Rover has just sent out an internal bulletin to its retailers.
It is estimating the impact of the collapse to be ~800 vehicles tied to two vessels.
JLR had planned to offload these vehicles over the next few days. pic.twitter.com/QXSTe9OwaM
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