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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.