US East Coast port operators say they are prepared to handle container ships diverting from Baltimore, following its Tuesday closure due to a major bridge collapse, with marine terminals in New Jersey and Virginia expanding gate hours, CSX Transportation revving up more intermodal service and Baltimore-based truckers looking for work at those other ports.  

The Maryland Port Administration said Friday it has no idea when it will reopen Baltimore to vessel traffic, which means the influx of traffic to other Northeast and mid-Atlantic ports could last several months. After the debris from the collision of the 9,962-TEU Dali into the Francis Scott Key Bridge is removed, the US Army Corps of Engineers will still have to determine if there was damage to the 50-feet-deep, 800-feet-wide ship channel. 

Officials from the Port of New York and New Jersey who briefed shippers and other stakeholders at a meeting this week said one “ad hoc” vessel originally destined for Baltimore already dropped off cargo at the port and four more are scheduled to arrive in the next few weeks, according to people who attended the meeting.  

During the meeting, port officials downplayed any major impact to terminal operations; most of the services that call Baltimore also call New York-New Jersey, so it’s just a matter of discharging more containers from ships that are already scheduled to visit the port. Still, officials said the diversions from Baltimore could last as long as three months. 

Diverted ships already arriving  

Most of the diverted ships are likely to call Port Newark Container Terminal (PNCT), which handles most of the Mediterranean Shipping Co. vessels calling New York-New Jersey. In response, PNCT is keeping its truck gates open until 6 pm, rather than closing at 4 pm, as of April 1. Starting April 6, PNCT will also open Saturdays from 7 am to 3 pm for an indeterminate period. 

APM Terminals Port Elizabeth is also handling freight that would normally land in Baltimore. It received the 10,062-TEU Maersk Yukon and 8,238-TEU MSC Everest VIII on Thursday, both of which had been scheduled to call Baltimore over the next two weeks. 

Next Tuesday, CSX Transportation is expected to start a daily north-south service from the New York-New Jersey port and its Kearny, NJ, intermodal terminal to Baltimore. According to people familiar with the operation, CSX will be running trains of approximately 6,000 feet that will be able to bring about 150 import containers to Baltimore’s Seagirt marine terminal for local pick-up and match back empties for the return trip. 

Along with Baltimore freight, port officials said there has been an increase in the number of Maryland-based truck drivers registering for service at the New York-New Jersey marine terminals to handle the freight.