Baltimore averted economic crisis one year after Key Bridge collapse

BALTIMORE — It didn’t take long after the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River for Reginald McMillan, 57, to lose his job. With the Port of Baltimore suddenly closed, McMillan’s trucking company cut workers. He received some severance pay, but suddenly his future – and the future of many others who rely on the port — was up in the air.

Maryland leaders feared an economic catastrophe after the Dali struck the bridge on March 26, 2024, which closed the 700-foot-wide shipping channel. One year later, however, those fears largely never became reality.

Experts and community leaders identified three key factors in this mostly successful recovery: the federal government’s incredibly fast clearing of the channel, emergency assistance from the state of Maryland, and a resilient community and culture.

McMillan rebounded, supplementing his income with a side gig at Patapsco Flea Market and eventually getting a new trucking job.

“It was a shock, but people just adjust,” McMillan said. “Maryland is very resilient … it could have been much, much worse.”

Clearing the channel

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ response was imperative — and they knew it. Dorie Murphy, the corps’ emergency management branch chief in Baltimore, said that each day the port was closed, there was an economic impact of $15 million.

p dir=”ltr”>“The Baltimore Harbor is a huge economic engine for all of Maryland and all of the East Coast of the United States,” Jeff Peacock, the corp’s debris removal chief, said. “We understood that every hour that it was down, we were losing economic position here in Baltimore.”

Initially, Peacock thought it was “pretty optimistic” that they would reopen the channel in three months. But it only took 77 days for the corps, along with the private salvage firms, the U.S. Coast Guard, Maryland Transportation Authority and the Department of Environment, to clear the channel to its 50-foot depth, allowing large container ships back into the port.

Financial aid for workers

While the corps led a major salvage effort, Maryland lawmakers passed the PORT Act in early April, which dispersed some $34 million in grants and loans to businesses and workers — an effort spearheaded by Gov. Wes Moore and supported by Republicans such as state Sen. Johnny Ray Salling.

 The U.S. Small Business Administration provided $124 million in disaster relief loans to businesses.

Scott Cowan, president of the Local 333 chapter of the International Longshoremen’s Association, and several other businesses in Baltimore said these programs allowed them to pay their bills and keep people working.

The Worker Retention Program created funding for businesses working directly with the Port of Baltimore, providing funding up to a total of $200,000 per business. Almost 300 businesses received grant money totaling $17.7 million, according to Maryland Department of Labor data.

The state’s Department of Commerce had a Port of Baltimore Emergency Business Assistance Program that provided nearly $10 million in grants to affected businesses. The state Department of Housing and Community Development provided $5.9 million in assistance through its Neighborhood Business Works Program.

In addition, the PORT Act includes a permanent Fallen Transportation Workers Scholarship Program and Fund in honor of the six construction workers killed in the collapse.

Once the channel was clear, Cowan said, it took several months to truly return to normal capacity. In the 24 months before the collapse, the port averaged about 718,000 tons of container flow per month. Those numbers took after the collapse but recovered by November.

In December, the port recorded its best month for the whole year — including before the bridge went down.

Larger businesses were more insulated from the closure. Peter O’Malley, vice president of corporate relations with American Sugar Refining, Inc. which owns Domino Sugar, said they were lucky since a ship had just arrived with a full load of raw sugar prior to the Key Bridge collapse.

While the channel was cut off, O’Malley said the company was able to quickly re-route shipments to Philadelphia and truck them back down to Baltimore.

“Though it cost more money, we kept our people working,” O’Malley said.

But small businesses like independent trucking companies relied on Maryland state government grants.

Brendon Williams, the owner of Yellow Diamond Trucking based in Aberdeen, received a small grant. Yellow Diamond Trucking is a two-person operation. Brendon Williams is the driver, and his wife Tanya is his dispatcher.

“I’m a one-man band show, one truck. So, I mean, it was a lot harder for me,” Williams said. “Everybody has bills. I have a mortgage payment, car payment, you know, insurance, kids, grandkids … applying for benefits from the disaster helped us out.”

Tanya Williams said the process of getting the grant was very easy.

“I had no issues,” Tanya Williams said. “I gave them what they needed and it was really, really easy.”

There were also other relief options made available to small businesses in the wake of the collapse. Robert Lovett, the owner and operator of the trucking company Lovett and Sons, received a $25,000 Small Business Administration Economic Injury Disaster Loan.

“It definitely helped us get through, and kind of tide things over,” Lovett said.

A resilient economy and community

The bridge collapse affected the daily lives of many Baltimore-area residents. The Baltimore Metropolitan Council showed commute times from Dundalk on the north side of the bridge to Ferndale in Anne Arundel County on the south side had doubled. Traffic remains the biggest complaint for many residents.

But on a macro scale, Baltimore recovered well.

Take the trucker Reginald McMillan for example. He didn’t take out a loan with the Small Business Administration, or receive any grant money. McMillan received severance pay from his company to help hold him over, but he said what really helped was income from New and Used R US, a general wares store at Patapsco Flea Market.

His regular customers supported him. “It’s a community-based culture in here, and we just take care of each other in here,” McMillan said.

Susil Chhetri, manager of Joe’s Tavern on Dundalk Avenue, said his reliable clientele has kept his business afloat in the aftermath of the Key Bridge collapse despite decreased foot traffic.

“This kind of business, it hasn’t been affected because people who gotta drink, gotta drink,” Chhetri, 27, said.

Erica Calvi, the owner of Bicoastal Trucking LLC in Columbia, received a $35,000 state worker retention grant. Calvi said this helped with paying drivers and maintenance, but business is still hard.

“We’re still recovering,”  Calvi said, “We have not recovered.”

Calvi said she wasn’t aware that Small Business Administration loans were an option, and wished the programs were advertised better.

Kevin Perez, 24, owner of Don Chago’s Taco Bar, a food truck on the other side of the parking lot from Joe’s, said his customers’ fear of deportations has been a bigger concern for his business than the bridge collapse.

 “A lot of our Hispanic community is scared to come outside: the fear that ICE is going to be standing in the corner and just pick them up right there,” Perez said.

Perez thanks these loyal patrons for keeping his business going. “They’re loyal to us, so we always appreciate it.”

The road ahead

Looking forward, business leaders around the port are optimistic.

Scott Cowan said that almost all of his longshoremen are back working and the port is going to begin hiring again.

In February this year, the new Key Bridge design was unveiled. The new bridge deck will be 45 feet taller, allowing larger boats to access the harbor. The federal government passed legislation to cover the estimated $2 billion to rebuild the bridge, scheduled by Fall 2028.

Andrew Bauer, an economist and vice president for Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, said that the reconstruction could have a positive impact on business in Baltimore.

Bauer thinks losses caused by the immediate aftermath of the collapse can be made up for with the rebuilding — and that hard-hit communities close to the bridge could especially benefit.

Construction workers “are going to be passing through those neighborhoods to get to work on the bridge,” Bauer said.

A survey of Baltimore area residents conducted by The Tyson Group, a research firm, showed 76% of respondents learned more about the importance of the Port of Baltimore since the collapse.

Tinglong Dai, a Johns Hopkins Carey Business School professor, said the port’s central location along the East Coast and easy access to the Midwest makes it invaluable to the nation’s ocean-based trade.

“I know this sounds silly to say this, but I actually think that this disruption has really put the Port of Baltimore on the map,” Dai said. “People started calling us. People started realizing how valuable Baltimore is.”

Reporters Sasha Allen, Emily Condon and Mikayla Roberts contributed to this story.