Businesses worry about extended Baltimore port shutdown, Federal Reserve says

The shutdown of vessel traffic in and out of Baltimore’s harbor since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse March 26 has caused shipping delays but so far no widespread price increases, a Federal Reserve report says.

Businesses said they can manage a short-term disruption but are concerned about an extended shutdown, according to the Federal Reserve’s April 17 Beige Book report. Published eight times a year, the report offers an overview of economic conditions within each Federal Reserve district based on anecdotal reports from key business contacts, economists, market experts and other sources.

“Businesses we talked to said they can manage a short-term disruption, but if the effort to reopen the channel takes longer, they then expressed greater concerns about lead times and increased costs,” reads a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, a district that includes Baltimore.

Shipments have been diverted to other East Coast ports since the freighter Dali struck the Key Bridge, collapsing the span and killing six construction workers.

Both the Key Bridge collapse and disruptions in the Red Sea have led to some shipping delays nationally “but so far did not lead to widespread price increases,” the report says.

Port officials opened a third temporary shipping channel on the northeast side of the fallen bridge on Friday. The three alternative paths around the wreckage will allow about 15% of the pre-collapse commercial activity, Coast Guard officials said.