Will Baltimore's port shutdown send more traffic to RI's ports? What we know.

PROVIDENCE − Port operators say it's too soon to tell how ports across the United States will be affected by the shutdown of the Port of Baltimore following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on Tuesday.

Baltimore is the nation's 20th-busiest port, according to the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Ship that hit Baltimore bridge much bigger than what comes to RI ports

For Quonset's Port of Davisville, if there is an impact, it will be more vehicles coming into the port.

The Port of Davisville is already one of North America's top 10 importers of vehicles, New Harbor Group President David Preston wrote in an email. He is the spokesman for the Quonset Development Corporation.

In Baltimore, dock workers imported and exported more than 840,000 cars and light trucks last year, making it the busiest auto port in the nation, according to the Maryland governor's office. Mercedes-Benz has one of its three "vehicle preparation centers" right off the port in Baltimore.

Davisville's main import is also vehicles. Car-carrying vessels coming to the port are typically 630 to 640 feet long and hold as many as 6,000 cars.

The Dali, the ship that crashed into the bridge in Baltimore, is a 985-foot container vessel and is "significantly larger than any ship that sails in the Bay," Preston said.

North Atlantic Distribution Inc. brings in vehicles on its 150-acre facility at the port, and is a "major distribution hub for imported and domestic vehicles," according to a Port of Davisville flyer.

The port doesn't have large cranes, and vehicles are driven off the ships.

Davisville also handles seafood and other cold storage through Seafreeze Ltd., the "largest producer of sea frozen fish on the U.S. East Coast," with a cold storage capacity of 23 million pounds.

Will Providence's port be affected?

ProvPort Spokesman Bill Fischer wrote in an email that it is still too early to tell what the impact will be from Baltimore's port being offline.

Neither ProvPort nor any of the other operators in the Port of Providence handle container ships. Rather, they handle bulk wet and dry goods, including fuel, chemicals and goods like lumber, cement mix and salt.

Ships coming into ProvPort range from 200 to 400 feet for offshore wind power research vessels and 500 to 650 feet for bulk cargo carriers, and the largest vessel in "recent history" was a 750-foot bulk cargo vessel, Fischer said.

What kind of cargo does the Baltimore port handle?

Baltimore’s port holds just 4% of all East Coast trade volume, according to S&P Global. New York’s port, by contrast, does 38% of that business.

Yet the port offers the deepest harbor in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay, is closer to the Midwest than any other East Coast port, and is within an overnight drive of one-third of the U.S. population, according to the port website.

The port boasts five public and 12 private terminals. In 2023, it ranked first in the nation in handling automobiles and light trucks.

Live updates: Baltimore's Key Bridge collapses after ship strike; construction crew missing

“For the American consumer, the biggest impact will be felt in terms of imported motor vehicles,” said Jason Miller, a business professor at Michigan State University. If sales remain strong, he said, “we could see inventories drop on the lots of dealers that sell imported vehicles until alternative arrangements can be made. This could increase motor vehicle prices for some makes and models.”

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Material from USA TODAY was used in this report.Reach reporter Wheeler Cowperthwaite at wcowperthwaite@providencejournal.com or follow him on Twitter @WheelerReporter.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Rhode Island ports could see more traffic as Baltimore port shuts down