Port of Baltimore Could Reopen in May, Says DHL Executive

It's been a little over 48 hours since the collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge into the Patapsco River, cutting off the city’s port from the Atlantic Ocean. During this time, there's been a lot of speculation about the impact on the supply chain. It appears the answer to one of the most pressing questions is beginning to emerge.

According to Jim Monkmeyer, president of transportation at DHL Supply Chain, the Port of Baltimore could reopen before the summer. “I don’t think this closure is going to last that long, maybe six weeks or something like that is what I’m hearing,” Monkmeyer told Bloomberg. “I’m hearing May – nobody is saying when in May — that’s why I’m saying six weeks.”

Monkmeyer added that the freight originally destined for Baltimore has been rerouted to alternative ports like Norfolk, Virginia, and New York-New Jersey.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is deploying approximately 1,100 personnel and a 61-foot survey vessel to Baltimore for topographic and hydrographic surveying. Additional vessels from Philadelphia are on standby to assist in the effort, in addition to more personnel across the East Coast.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg didn't provide a date for the port's reopening. “It's too soon to venture an estimate,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “The vast majority of the port is inside of that bridge, which means most of it cannot operate.”

Francis Scott Key Bridge Rebuild To Take Much Longer

Rebuilding the bridge, however, will be a much longer process. An accurate timeline won’t be available until the National Transportation Safety Board completes its investigation of the damage, but estimates are anywhere from “as little as two years or as many as 15, with some experts eyeing a number in between,” according to the Baltimore Sun.

Benjamin Schafer, a Civil and Systems Engineering professor at Johns Hopkins University, predicts it will be on the longer side. In an interview with USA Today, he noted that the Skyway Bridge in Tampa took seven years to rebuild after being hit by a freighter in 1980.

“To actually recreate that whole transportation network—projects that large take rarely less than 10 years,” he said.

Maryland Governor Wes Moore echoed this sentiment. “This is going to be a long-term build,” he said. “It’s gonna be a build that’s going to require every facet and every aspect of our society.”