Gail noted that 1.3 million trucks cross the bridge every year — 3,600 a day. Trucks that carry hazardous materials will now have to make 30 miles of detours around Baltimore because they are prohibited from using the city's tunnels, she said, adding to delays and increasing fuel costs.

"Timewise, it's going to hurt us a lot,'' said Russell Brehm, the terminal manager in Baltimore for Lee Transport, which trucks hazardous materials such as petroleum products and chemicals. The loss of the bridge will double to two hours the time it takes Lee to get loads from its terminal in Baltimore's Curtis Bay to the BJ's gasoline station in the waterfront neighborhood of Canton, he estimated.

Baltimore's port has become increasingly important to U.S. retailers and manufacturers seeking to diversify their supply networks and bring goods closer to customers, said Jonathan Gold, vice president of supply chain and customs policy at the National Retail Federation.

The use of trucks as an alternative to shipping goods will also cause traffic backups on U.S. thoroughfares, Petersen predicted. "The East Coast I-95 corridor is going to be a real disaster," he said.

Still, Levine thinks the bridge collapse is unlikely to have a big impact on global trade, certainly nothing like the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. First, Baltimore is not a major port for container vessels. And second, shipping traffic from Asia is in the annual lull following China's Lunar New Year holiday.

In the Baltimore area, "if you're in the construction business and you haven't piled up enough steel because of (high) interest rates, then there's a good chance you're going to run out of steel,'' Windward's Daniel said. "If you're in the shipbuilding or construction business, it can slow down your project.''

About 20% of U.S. coal exports pass through Baltimore en route to India, the Netherlands, Japan and other countries; that is second only to Norfolk, Virginia, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

At least 17 passengers hurt as cruise ship crashes into wall in River Danube

© (APA/AFP via Getty Images)

A Bulgarian cruise ship carrying over a hundred passengers has crashed into a concrete wall in a sluice on the River Danube in Austria.

The incident occurred overnight in the northern Austrian town of Aschach an der Donau, local police said on Saturday morning.

Eleven people were injured and taken to hospital as a result of the crash. Local media said another six people suffered less serious injuries that did not require hospital treatment.

Some 160 passengers were aboard the ship travelling from Bavaria in Germany to the Austrian city of Linz, a spokesperson for police in the nearby town of Eferding said.

The ship was able to continue onwards after the accident, the spokesperson said.

It was not immediately clear how serious the injuries were, the spokesperson added.

It was also unclear what led to the accident.

The River Danube is one of Europe's most significant and iconic rivers, winding its way through multiple countries and cultures. Cruise ships over the river attract thousands of tourists every year.

Earlier in 2023, a Ukrainian captain of a cruise liner was sentenced to five years in prison in Hungary for his role in a 2019 accident when his boat hit and sank a smaller boat on the River Danube, killing 25 South Korean tourists and two crew.

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