There has been substantial progress in the efforts to reopen the port and allow ships to enter and exit the marine terminals.
A 38-foot channel (Fort McHenry Limited Access Channel) is now open and will be deep enough to allow most of the vessels that have been stuck in Baltimore to leave. The channel will be open from April 25 – April 29th and then it will close until May 10th to allow for further salvage operations to be able to refloat and move the Dali out of the way. Weather could impact the opening but we are hoping it will not. There are strict conditions for vessels to pass through the channel.
There were 11 vessels that were not able to leave the port. It’s hopeful that all but 2 vessels will be able to depart. The port is expecting some vessels to arrive during this 4-day period to discharge breakbulk cargo.
Atlantic Container Line (ACL) has announced that they are accepting bookings to/from Baltimore with the hope that the Atlantic Sun sailing from Hamburg on April 24th, Antwerp on April 26th and Liverpool on April 30th will arrive in Baltimore on May 11th to discharge cargo and to load export cargo. If the channel is not available at that time, then they would divert to another port. The hope is that this 38-foot channel will enable ACL to call Baltimore every week. We are hopeful that other shipping lines will be able to bring their ships to Baltimore.
Larger container carriers are still not accepting any bookings to or from Baltimore. The container carriers that require 50-foot depth are not confirming when they will come back to Baltimore. The goal is to have the 50-foot channel available by the end of May. Hopefully these carriers will accept bookings to Baltimore during May based on the transit time and the arrival being in early June. Hard to say yet what they will do.
The Port of Norfolk is overwhelmed with containers and breakbulk/mafi cargo. Appointments to pick up breakbulk/mafi cargo are taking 7-10 days to confirm a pick-up date. Appointments cannot be made until the shipment is fully released and available at the terminal. It’s a very difficult and costly situation.
Container truck capacity is very limited right now with no end in sight. This is for containers that were diverted from Baltimore to Norfolk. The truck infrastructure isn’t there. If special equipment is shipped to Norfolk, it is not likely they can be picked up inside the free time which is only 2 days for most ocean carriers.
New York appears to be doing well for containers diverted there. Breakbulk/mafi cargo arriving at Faps Terminal are seeing pick up delays with long waiting time for drivers to get loaded. It is better than Norfolk however local crane and loading charges are higher in New York.