Baltimore bridge's $81 BILLION trade crisis: Ship crash sparks chaos for US goods as collapse blocks ninth-largest hub for foreign goods that handles 52 million tons a year - with 10 vessels stuck in harbor

Baltimore's collapsed bridge has brought the country's ninth-biggest foreign trading port to a standstill with 10 ships trapped inside.

The Francis Scott Key Bridge was knocked over when Singaporean container ship Dali crashed into one of the support columns about 1.30am on Tuesday.

Rescue teams were trying to pluck eight people out of the water who were on the bridge when it dramatically collapsed into the Patapsco River.

The Port of Baltimore is shut down indefinitely during the rescue and salvage operations, which could take days or weeks.

'We don't have an estimate because our exclusive focus is on saving lives,' Maryland officials said of how long shipping would be distrupted.

Some 10 ships are stuck inside the port unable to leave as the bridge spans the only route in and out of the harbor where the port is located.

Baltimore handled 52.3 million tons of foreign cargo last year worth about $80.8 billion, ranking ninth in the US for both metrics and records for the port.

Another record was 1.1 million 20ft equivalent unit containers that arrived or left the port last year.

The port handled 847,158 cars and light trucks, the most in the US for the 13th year in a row, and 1.3 million tons of roll on/roll off farm and construction machinery.

Cruises carrying more than 444,000 passengers departed from the port, which is a major destination for Norwegian, Carnival, and Royal Caribbean cruises.

The port was the second busiest for coal exports last year, with Its eight dry bulk terminals exporting 22 million tonnes of coal last year and small amounts of other metals and minerals.

Stunning images show the mangled wreckage of the bridge hours after it was struck by the cargo ship 

Other top export commodities by weight in 2022 were liquefied natural gas, wastepaper, ferrous scrap, and automobiles/light trucks.

Cove Point, which is upstream from the bridge, is the nearest LNG terminal. ICIS ship tracking data show Cove Point typically exports about 500,000 tonnes per month.

It is the busiest U.S. port for car shipments, handling more than 750,000 vehicles in 2023, according to data from the Maryland Port Administration.

The port handles imports and exports for major automakers including Nissan, Toyota,  General Motors, Volvo, Jaguar Land Rover, and Volkswagen, including luxury models for Audi, Lamborghini, and Bentley.

It is also the largest American port by volume for handling farm and construction machinery, as well as agricultural products.

Imports of agricultural products totalled 3 million tonnes last year, including 1.2 million of sugar and salt, as well as gypsum, fertilisers and forest products.

The port handles $2.6 billion in business income and nearly $400 million in taxes, according to the Maryland Government. 

More than 40 ships remained inside Baltimore port, including small cargo ships, tug boats and pleasure craft.

About 40 ships are on course for the Port of Baltimore, and others already diverted from there to other ports in the hours since the bridge collapse.

Marine Traffic website shows all the ships trapped in the harbor downstream from the bridge. Most of them are small boats, including those in the rescue

A closer view of the harbor shows several large ships including cargo vessels moored inside with nowhere to go

Closer to the bridge (bottom right) shows more large ships stuck inside

At least 30 other ships signalled their destination was Baltimore, but were not able to go inside.

'This is going to be catastrophic for many reasons,' one Baltimore resident told WZJ. 

'Number one, the harbor's blocked. Number two, we're not going to get any more new car deliveries at this time. 

'Amazon is just on the other side of the river and you can forget your same-day, next-day delivery packages. 

'The beltway is going to be a parking lot. The tunnels are going to be over-jammed.'

Georgios Hatzimanolis, who analyzes global shipping for MarineTraffic, said he expects some shipping delays. 

'We do expect there to be a ripple effect, but it's a bit too early to say what the impact will be,' he told the New York Times.

Baltimore It is the deepest harbor in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay, closer to the Midwest than other East Coast ports, with five public and 12 private terminals.

It is one of the smallest container ports on the Northeastern seaboard, handling 265,000 containers in the fourth quarter of last year, according to container shipping expert Lars Jensen.

The Port of New York and New Jersey handled around 2 million containers in that same period, and Norfolk Port in Virginia handled 850,000, so the flow of containers to Baltimore can likely be redistributed to bigger ports, Jensen said.

It remains unclear what led to the crash. Video shows the ship going dark seconds before the collision, suggesting a power failure on board. 

The crew of 22, none of whom were injured, remains onboard and is being questioned by the Coast Guard.

Maryland authorities are using sonar detection devices to search for any vehicles that plunged into the 47F water. 

Among those missing are six members of a construction crew who were carrying out pothole repairs on the bridge at the time, Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld said.

As of early Tuesday, two people had been pulled from the water. One was uninjured, and the other was rushed to hospital in 'very serious condition'. 

An injured person was pictured being loaded into an ambulance after getting taken off the ship following the collapse

Officials were quick to rule out the catastrophe as intentional or an act of terrorism, and an early Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency report found the container ship 'lost propulsion' as it was leaving port. 

'The vessel notified MD Department of Transportation that they had lost control of the vessel and an allision with the bridge was possible,' the report said. 

'The vessel struck the bridge causing a complete collapse.'

Maryland officials said the Dali issued a mayday after it lost power, giving authorities time to stop vehicles from entering the bridge. 

The early CISA report noted that the crew warned officials that they had lost control of the vessel moments before impact.

All activity out of the port has been halted. Around 30,000 people use the bridge to commute every single day, leading to mass disruption in the area. 

The port is noted for catering to large container ships like the Dali. The 948-foot-long vessel had reportedly spent two days in the port before its departure around midnight Monday, and was on course for Colombo, Sri Lanka. 

Last month, Maryland Governor Wes Moore praised the port's handling of large cargo ships, saying it 'continues to demonstrate Baltimore's capabilities of handling supersized vessels.' 

An aerial view of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge after the collision

At the first press conference around 6:30 am, Baltimore Fire Chief James Wallace could only confirm that two people were pulled from the water

The Dali was bound for Colombo, Sri Lanka. It's unclear what cargo it was holding. The vessel was due to land in Asia on April 27. 

The 50m-wide ship is marooned under the bridge. It arrived in Baltimore from Norfolk on Monday having previously made journeys to New York City and Panama. 

The ship was piloted by a specialized local crew trained to avoid obstacles at ports, who then depart the ship when it reaches open water.

This is not the first time the Dali has crashed. In 2016, the ship smashed into the dock in Antwerp, Belgium, as it was leaving the port for German city Bremerhaven during good weather.

The Dali suffered 'sufficient damages' in the stern, but remained afloat, while the dock was 'seriously damaged' at the time. No people were injured at the time and no oil spill was reported. 

The ship underwent 27 inspections since 2015, and it had been found to have two 'deficiencies', according to a CNN review of records from the Electronic Quality Shipping Information System.

Notably, this included a June 2023 inspection in San Antonio, Chile, where a deficiency was found in the 'propulsion and auxiliary machinery' - with propulsion faults also noted in the early CISA report.

The 1.6-mile bridge, which is part of I-695, crosses the Patapsco River in Baltimore's harbor. Built in 1977, the main span of the truss bridge at 1,200ft is the third longest span of any continuous truss in the world.

The structure carries around 12 million vehicles every year. It carries the Baltimore Beltway/Interstate 695 over the river. 

Baltimore's port became internationally famous in 2003 when it was a key setting for the second season of HBO's The Wire.