27 March 2024 (Lloyd's List) - OPERATORS of pure car and truck carriers are starting to divert their vessels from the closed Port of Baltimore after the Dali bridge collapse yesterday.
Norwegian vehicle carrier operator Höegh Autoliners has diverted its 6,200 car capacity Höegh Chiba (IMO: 9303558) to the port of Wilmington, Delaware after cancelling its call at Baltimore’s Mid-Atlantic terminal today, according to vessel tracking data.
Wallenius Wilhelmsen, which had its 5,200 car capacity PCTC Carmen (IMO: 9505027) alongside at the Mid-Atlantic terminal at the time of the Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster, is looking for alternatives to Baltimore.
A spokesperson told Lloyd’s List today: “As the Port of Baltimore is closed to vessel traffic, we are working on discharging Baltimore booked cargo on board our vessels to alternative US ports.”
WWL’s 5,500 car capacity Patriot (IMO: 9316139) was due to arrive at Baltimore today, March 27, but appears to be stationary in the south of Chesapeake Bay after abandoning its Baltimore call.
Neverthless, the Volkswagen Group-operated Wolfsburg (IMO: 9941790) was able to berth at the operator’s dedicated Tradepoint Atlantic Terminal, which is south of the Francis Scott Key Bridge and accessible to vessel traffic.
The Zodiac Maritime-owned vehicle carrier Brooklands, on time charter to Japan’s K Line, arrived at Tradepoint before the bridge collapse and is due to sail tomorrow, March 28, for Zeebrugge, Belgium.
Grimaldi’s 7,700 car capacity Grande Torino (IMO: 9782675) is inbound from the Mediterranean and still indicating its next destination as Baltimore. The Italian ro-ro vessel operator uses terminals north of the Francis Scott Key Bridge so will probably be diverted.
With no suggestion of how long it will take to clear bridge wreckage and reopen the channel to most vehicle carrier terminals, combined ro-ro cargo and container vessel operator Atlantic Container Line confirmed yesterday that it will re-route all cargoes to New York and Norfolk.
ACL said it would add an alternative port to its vessel’s schedules if the closure is prolonged.
The Port of Baltimore is the US’s largest ro-ro cargo hub and handled some 390,000 cars in 2023 and more than 1.3m tonnes of ro-ro cargo. It handles up to 14 calls per week from pure car and truck carriers and deepsea ro-ro cargo vessels.
While the Tradepoint Atlantic terminal is accessible to vessel traffic, it handles only a relatively small number of vehicle carriers compared with the vehicle and ro-ro terminals north of the collapsed bridge.
Lloyd’s List Intelligence data show Baltimore’s vehicle and ro-ro terminals recorded 109 calls since the beginning of the year, with most ships calling at more than one terminal during their visits to Baltimore.
Only 15 of the calls were at the Tradepoint Atlantic terminal in Sparrows Point, the only vehicle terminal south of the collapsed bridge.
Volkswagen-operated vessels call exclusively at Tradepoint and have made nine calls to the terminal in 2024. Other operators which called at Tradewind are Hyundai Glovis, with two vessel calls, K-Line with three ships, while one MOL-operated ship has called at Tradepoint in 2024.
Dundalk Marine Terminal, which handles both ro-ro cargo and cars, has been the port’s busiest terminal, accounting for more than half the calls so far this year. It is used by every operator calling in Baltimore except Volkswagen, with Wallenius Wilhelmsen its largest customer.
