U.S. automakers General Motors and Ford will reroute affected shipments after a bridge collapse in the U.S. shuttered the Port of Baltimore, but the companies said on Tuesday the impact will be minimal.
"We expect the situation to have minimal impact to our
operations. We are working to re-route any vehicle shipments to other
ports," GM said in a statement.
The Port of Baltimore is the busiest U.S. port for car
shipments, handling at least 750,000 vehicles in 2023, according to data from
the Maryland Port Administration. Motor vehicles and parts accounted for 42% of
all Baltimore port imports
Ford Chief Financial Officer John Lawler said the bridge
collapse, which happened after a container ship smashed into the four-lane
bridge early on Tuesday, will force the automaker to divert parts to other
ports and impact its supply chain.
"It's going to have an impact," Lawler told
Bloomberg News. "We'll have to divert parts to other ports... It will
probably lengthen the supply chain a bit."
Ford told Reuters in a separate statement "where
workarounds are necessary in the short term, our team has already secured
shipping alternatives."
Industry officials said it was too early to say what impact
the accident will have on the auto sector.
"But there will certainly be a disruption," said
John Bozella, CEO of the auto trade group Alliance for Automotive Innovation.
"Baltimore is the No. 1 automobile port in the U.S., and we’re in touch
with federal officials to help them understand the scale of automotive
operations there.”
Rescuers have pulled out two survivors, one of whom remains
hospitalized, and were searching for more in the Patapsco River after huge
spans of the 1.6-mile (2.57 km) Francis Scott Key Bridge crumpled into the
water.
Breakwave Advisors managing partner John Kartsonas, a
shipping analyst and investor, said Baltimore is a significant port for imports
of consumer goods, cars and other imports.
"There are a lot of other areas that can pick up the
slack like the New York Harbor and all the way down to Savannah, Georgia,"
he said in an email. "It will take a while for the situation to resolve
and to begin operating normally again, so definitely there will be delays in
deliveries of goods."
Other transportation companies reported no major impact.
"While Baltimore is not a primary port for our North
American operations, there will be some impact, primarily on vehicle
exports," Toyota said in a statement. "At this time, we do not
anticipate a significant disruption, but we are evaluating the situation
closely to determine the longer term impact and countermeasures.”
Volkswagen Group of America said it was not impacted because
its Baltimore facility is located on the easterly sea board of the bridge
collapse, while Nissan said it did not expect significant impact at this time.
BMW said the car docks are located on the ocean side of the
harbor, so there was no major impact expected as the bridge collapse will not
affect ships. It added that land-side truck traffic would be rerouted.
Mercedes said the incident has had no impact on vehicle
exports or the company's Tuscaloosa, Alabama, plant's parts supply, and it was
monitoring the situation. It said it uses ports in Baltimore, as well as in
Georgia and South Carolina, for vehicle imports.
Volvo Group, which makes trucks, construction equipment and
engines, said it was looking over its inventory in its U.S. production
facilities to see if and when there could be a disturbance in worst-case
scenarios, adding it currently expected no huge impact. Reuters
0 comments:
Post a Comment