Rerouting of CSX auto rack trains after FSK Bridge Collapse

Earlier this morning, the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River in Baltimore, MD, after a cargo ship collided with one 9of the support beams.

https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/ ... iner-ship/

Preliminary indications are that the entire river is now blocked, and no large cargo ships can get into or out of the Port of Baltimore. How will this affect CSX in general, and how will it affect CSX’s auto rack train routing in particular? Where else on the East Coast could CSX either directly pick up auto racks for delivery or interchange with another Class I to pick up auto racks for delivery?

I'm going to venture a guess and say it's too early to tell on how long this will affect things. Obviously, based on the live film, the entire bay is blocked right now and the main focus is the rescue of any people.

For autos, they should be able to be diverted to Jacksonville, Brunswick, Charleston, Philadelphia, NY/NJ ports and Providence. In a pinch, they could also use Tampa and route to Houston for Atlantic/Gulf ports.

Not all ports are created equal. PHL, SAV, ORF, EWR and JAX can also handle neo-Panamax ULCVs, but none of them are really equipped for surge capacity.

Would not surprise me at all to see some BAL bound ships being diverted to places like Houston or even St John.

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One of the Baltimore automotive facilities is not blocked -- the new one with the dock at sparrow's point is on the south side of the bridge. i believe it services VW and maybe bmw. Other ro-ro facilities, such as the mercedes port, are north of the bridge and thus blocked.