Port of Va. is already handling cargo diverted from Baltimore

On Tuesday afternoon, workers at the Port of Virginia’s Virginia International Gateway facility in Portsmouth unloaded cargo that had been scheduled for the Baltimore Harbor before a container ship struck and destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in a fatal accident that has left the shipping channel closed for at least several weeks to come.

“The ship was already in Virginia for a normally scheduled port of call and was headed to [Baltimore] afterward,” Port of Virginia spokesperson Joe Harris said in a statement to Virginia Business. “The accident happened, [and] the [Baltimore] cargo was offloaded here.”

The port expects these diverted volumes of cargo to increase. “​​It is, however, too early to discuss specific impacts to our operation,” Harris said.

Speaking to press during a bill-signing ceremony Tuesday, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin pledged to assist Maryland during the disaster with everything from additional port capacity to emergency search and rescue services, saying the “entire commonwealth’s capabilities are at the ready.”

If assistance is requested, Virginia emergency resources available to Maryland include the Virginia State Police, the Virginia Department of Emergency Management and the Virginia Department of Fire Programs, according to a spokesperson for the governor.

On Wednesday afternoon, rescue workers recovered the bodies of two of six road construction workers killed in the accident in which the Singapore-flagged container ship Dali collided with the Key Bridge around 1:29 a.m. Tuesday, shortly after the ship lost power and its pilots issued a mayday call. National Transportation Safety Board investigators and other federal officials continued looking into the cause of the crash Wednesday, as the Biden administration pledged federal support to rebuild the bridge, calling on Congress to authorize hundreds of millions in funding likely needed for the bridge’s replacement, an undertaking that could take at least a year.

In the aftermath of the bridge collapse, supply chain experts warned it could have a major ripple effect on East Coast trade for some time to come, though at least one major shipping executive was optimistic that the Port of Baltimore could reopen sometime in May.

It’s unclear, Harris said, how many additional vessels and what volume of cargo the Port of Virginia will ultimately see, especially since no one knows how long the Port of Baltimore will remain closed to all ship traffic. All vessel traffic in and out of Baltimore’s port has been suspended until further notice, Maryland’s transportation secretary announced Tuesday morning.

Ocean carriers will decide how Baltimore-bound imports and exports will be diverted to other ports, Harris said, adding that ships presently in transit with cargo bound for Baltimore will likely unload in the ports of Virginia, Philadelphia, or New York and New Jersey.

“Our effort today is continuing to communicate with the ocean carriers and cargo owners to let them know that we have ample capacity to handle additional cargo and vessels,” he said. 

 The increased traffic won’t impact the Port of Virginia’s service levels, according to Harris. “This is a modern, 21st century port that has a significant amount of experience in handling surges of import and export cargo.” 

Virginia Business Editor Richard Foster contributed to this story.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article listed an incorrect summary of cargo diverted to the Port of Virginia and an incorrect estimate for the replacement cost of the Key Bridge. The story has been corrected and updated.