U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has vowed to help protect the approximately 8,000 jobs directly involved in operations at the Port of Baltimore, even as it remains unclear when the port will reopen following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
Buttigieg, who praised the port as one of America’s busiest trade routes, told reporters on Wednesday that the Biden administration is making sure billions of dollars in trade and thousands of jobs are at risk. He said he was concerned about the looming economic impact of the port closure.
Buttigieg estimated that the value of goods passing through the port each day is between $100 million and $200 million, and the closure would impact wages by about $2 million.
“If the ship isn’t moving, it’s not working,” Buttigieg said. “That’s one of the main areas of concern for us.
“We know that no matter how quickly we can restart the channel, it won’t happen overnight,” he added. “So we need to deal with the implications for now.”
The Port of Baltimore employs more than 15,300 jobs, approximately 140,000 of which are associated with port activities.
The port is one of the country’s leading import and export hubs for passenger cars, light trucks, sugar, gypsum, etc. Last year, a record 52.3 million tons of foreign cargo (worth about $80 billion) was transported through the port. .
Buttigieg said reopening the ports remains a top priority for the federal government and that the Biden administration will work to rebuild the bridge and reduce the impact on traffic for the 35,000 vehicles that cross it each year, as well as reduce the supply of supplies caused by the closure. He said he would also focus on addressing chain disruptions. Day.
Buttigieg’s comments echoed those of President Joe Biden, who said he would “move heaven and earth” to help rebuild the disaster area and help port workers.
“We’re going to do everything we can to protect those jobs and help those workers,” the president said Tuesday.
Officials have not yet given a concrete timeline for when the port will be accessible or how much it will cost to rebuild the bridge.
The U.S. Coast Guard said the Dali cargo ship must first be freed from debris from the collapsed bridge before the port can be reopened.
U.S. Coast Guard Vice Admiral. Peter Gauthier said Wednesday that crews are working to get the vessel back in service and removed from the Patapsco River.
The cleanup operation came as authorities said the recovery mission was to rescue the remaining six construction workers caught in the collapse.
So far, only two of the six presumed dead have been identified: Miguel Luna, 49, and Mayor Yasir Suazo Sandoval, 37, according to reports. .
Officials said the six known victims all worked for Browner Builders and were originally from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico.
Sandoval, the father of a 5-year-old girl, has lived in the United States since 2003 but only started working at a construction company last year. The Wall Street Journal reported.
A father of six children, Luna is a 14-year veteran of Brawner Builders.
As the search for the six continues, the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating what happened when the Dali crashed into the bridge, and authorities have recovered the ship’s black box data recorder.
NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy told reporters Wednesday that the black box helped investigators create a timeline of events that outlines what happened early Tuesday morning, adding to the timeline of events investigators believe the ship suffered in the moments before the crash. He said it would help provide information about power outages.
Terry Jones, 56, who was one of the last drivers to cross the bridge before police stopped traffic, told the Post he saw Dali’s lights “flashing.” .
“Then I noticed that the boat had stopped too, because I had never seen a boat come so close to the bridge,” she said. “I thought I had to hurry to the end of the bridge.”
Jones said he “heard an explosion” by the time he got off the bridge, and at first thought one of his tires had gone flat.
“When I looked at the tires to see if the rear tire had blown out…I saw the boat hit the bridge,” she said. “Then I looked and saw the bridge had collapsed.”
