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Baltimore’s container terminal stopped accepting exports Tuesday morning and will remain closed Friday after a catastrophic cargo ship crash collapsed the Francis Scott Key Bridge into the ship channel and cut off marine vessel access to Maryland’s largest port.
“Due to current port conditions, Seagirt Marine Terminal will cease receiving exports today, March 26, at 11:00am. until further notice,” according to a text message warning sent by Ports America Chesapeake, which operates the state terminal.
Starting Wednesday, the New Vail Street gate will be closed until further notice and all truck traffic must enter the terminal through the main Seagirt gate at 2600 Broening Highway, according to another notice.
In addition to being closed on Friday, the port terminal will close at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, reversing an earlier plan to extend hours until 5:30 p.m.
A line of trucks lined the Broening Highway outside the main gate as drivers tried to deliver export loads before the Tuesday morning deadline, said Pamela Miller, a truck driver who has run the port for 40 years.
Miller, an owner-operator employed by PiCorp, entered the terminal a little later than usual Tuesday, around 9:30 a.m.
She could see the wreck from her truck from row B of the New Vail Road entrance.
“It looks so eerie,” he said.
Before heading to the port, she checked in with her office that the customer still wanted the empty one she was collecting.
“Can you imagine what a nightmare it is right now trying to rebook, reschedule?” Miller said.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the crash, but authorities said they believe the wreck was an accident.
President Joe Biden he promised on Tuesday that the federal government would cover the cost of repairing the bridge.
“We will send all the federal resources that are needed as we respond to this emergency,” Biden said at a briefing.
This story was republished by our sister publication, Supply Chain Dive. Register here.