Bridge collapse impacting East Coast supply chain

The Baltimore Port is responsible for handling billions in imports and exports, which could start spelling trouble for the supply chain across the country. Queen City News Chief Business Correspondent Taylor Young here now, and Taylor, what kind of impact is expected as a result of this closure? Yes, we know the supply chain is extremely fragile, so any hiccup can have really ripple effects across the entire country. And right now we know the trucking industry, including right here in Charlotte, as well as ports along the East Coast, are scrambling to adapt. Baltimore's Frances Scott Key Bridge crumbling to the water below. While efforts Tuesday focus on finding those unaccounted for, concerns over the long-term impact on the region's supply chain loom. That's such a busy, busy bridge, so it was very heartbreaking. Out of the estimated 11.5 million vehicles that cross the bridge annually, Clarissa Rankin and her big rig were one of them. About once a month, she hit the road from Charlotte, carrying cargo straight through Baltimore to states up north. Now the route is no longer an option. It can slow down a lot of things that we are providing to normal, everyday, necessity items, grocery stores. So it's a big impact, big, big, big. The collapse not only impacting a major interstate and trucking corridor, Baltimore's major shipping hub is now out of commission for what could be months. First of all, this is an unprecedented situation. We have never seen anything like it. Lars Jensen is a container shipping expert based in Copenhagen. While he does not expect the Port of Baltimore shutdown to slow down the global supply chain, regional impact could be devastating. What you will see is the immediate shock right now is a major impact on customers that were supposed to use Baltimore for either imports or exports. While not as large as other ports along the East Coast, the Port of Baltimore is considered the busiest in the U.S. for car shipments, handling imports and exports for major automakers like Ford Motor. We've had experience in managing supply chain disruptions. In an interview with Bloomberg, Ford Motor's CFO says while it's too soon to know the exact extent of the shutdown, disruptions are inevitable. We'll have to divert parts to other ports along the East Coast or elsewhere in the country, and it'll probably lengthen the supply chain a bit. A longer supply chain, whether on 18 wheels or by vessel. People don't understand how much this transportation world could impact your everyday life. Likely to impact wait times and prices for everyday goods. And we were just talking about those goods. You mentioned the importance of the automobiles coming in, coming out. What other goods are used here on this waterway? Yeah, so of course, cars being the number one, we also have coal, we have agricultural products, farming equipment, as well as construction materials. So all of these, just like the CFO of Ford Motor says, will have to be moved to other ports in the region. The silver lining here is that while the Baltimore port is large, it is not in comparison to others along the East Coast, including in New York and New Jersey. So those ports are now expected to take an uptick in volume around 10%, which is something that we are being told that they can handle. So that is the silver lining. A lot of logistics being sorted out today. Taylor, thank you for that.