At half past two in the morning on Tuesday, the bridge collapsed after a damaged freighter ran into it.
When the wreck occurred, the ship sent out an emergency message and cars were stopped from driving on the bridge – something that saved several lives, according to Gov. Wes Moore, reports NBC News. Despite the emergency call, several construction works were on the bridge, which are now missing.
The collapsed bridge has shaken the American city of Baltimore and on Wednesday flags flew at half-mast. At the same time, the incident also affects the port, which is one of the largest on the American east coast.
Swedish ship Carmen stuck in Baltimore
No ships can pass in or out of the port of Baltimore, although inside the port there are roughly ten cargo ships from the USA, Europe and Asia. One of them is the Swedish MV Carmen from the Norwegian-Swedish shipping company Wallenius Wilhelmsen.
“Fortunately, all of our ship, terminal and logistics personnel in the region are accounted for and confirmed as safe,” the shipping company writes in a press release.
The shipping company writes that all traffic in and out of the port has been closed and that there is no forecast for when it can reopen.
“We are working with various port authorities, partners and stakeholders to find potential alternative solutions to minimize the effects this situation has on our customers and ongoing operations,” writes the shipping company.
May take weeks to come out
Maryland Democratic Senator Bill Ferguson wrote on X that the incident is affecting a large number of workers and businesses at the port that he spoke with.
“They all had the same message: We must open the way to the port of Baltimore. They are right, and until we do, it will be at a huge cost to families,” Ferguson wrote.
Temple University Professor Subodha Kumar tells CBS News that it may take weeks to deal with the situation.
– We should be able to handle this within a couple of weeks, but the next few weeks will be very challenging, says Kumar.
Getting ships in and out is one thing, but rebuilding the bridge will take longer, according to Michael Chajes, professor of environmental and civil engineering at the University of Delaware.
– It can take a week, two weeks, three weeks to open a navigable channel. It shouldn’t be that hard. But you can’t rebuild a bridge of that size in a few weeks, we’re talking years, says Chajes.