After more than 24 hours of searching, the rescue teams reported yesterday evening The 6 workers were presumed dead missing in Baltimore Bridge collapse. Last night two of the bodies were found in a vehicle that had fallen into the water. At 6 a.m. local time, efforts to recover their bodies resumed. “We want them found so we can repatriate my brother’s body to Honduras,” said the relative of one of them. What was recovered from the bottom of the river is the black box of the Dali freighter, a key element in understanding why the huge ship ended up colliding with the bridge pier. Francis Scott Key. A team of investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) boarded the freighter yesterday to speak with the crew and understand what happened in the 12 hours before the accident.
The newspaper “The Wall Street” assures that the key points of the investigation would include the quality of the ship’s fuel and the protective measures of the bridge. We have to see if they were really the right ones. NTSB President Jennifer Homendy said in an interview with NBC News that it would “look at the nature of the infrastructure to prevent such collapses.” Homendy assured that they would also investigate how it was possible that the entire bridge structure collapsed due to the fall of a single column.
The other major problem they face after the tragedy is the financial impact this disaster will have on U.S. commerce and particularly on Baltimore’s economy, which relies primarily on maritime transport. Its port is an important route for the country’s Midwest. There is a relatively narrow channel in the Patapsco River that is deep enough to allow the passage of large ships, but it is important to clear this path of debris, which is not an easy task given the low temperatures, strong water currents and working conditions . dangerous for the equipment as objects are still hanging on the bridge structure. Rebuilding could take years, as Maryland Gov. Moore Wes said it was “a long-term build.” For now, the ports of New York (the country’s second-largest after Los Angeles) and New Jersey announced Tuesday that they are working with shippers as they are likely to take on some of the cargo.
The Port of Baltimore, the 16th largest in the country and one of the most important on the Atlantic coast, is closed until further notice and ships are being diverted to other parts of the country or forced to anchor in the Chesapeake Bay, which has caused traffic jams in nearby shipyards such as Annapolis guided. Last year, Baltimore handled $80 billion worth of foreign goods (companies like Volkswagen, Toyota, and Nissan use this port to import and export their vehicles). It is an “extremely challenging situation,” said the company Tradepoint Atlantic, which works with major brands such as Amazon, Home Depot and BMW, in a statement. Another important manufacturer in the Port of Baltimore is the 115-year-old Domino sugar refinery. It receives imported pure sugar by ship, refines it and sells it. It is unknown whether the company has enough product to continue operations while the tragedy is resolved.
As if that wasn’t enough, the collapsed bridge was part of an important highway for the transport of goods and people. The American Trucking Association estimated in a statement that around 4,900 trucks transporting an average of $28 billion every day When it comes to goods, they have to deviate from their path, which will ultimately put a strain on consumers’ wallets. The hardest hit are likely to be shipments of more dangerous goods, such as diesel, which is not allowed to be transported through tunnels for safety reasons.
The incident also affected cruise companies that are looking for alternatives for their routes, such as Norwegian Cruise Line or Carnival Cruise Line. They left this port last year more than 444,000 passengers on board cruise ships. The more than 15,300 port workers and the almost 140,000 people whose employment depends on their work are also affected.