Baltimore bridge collapse likely to pinch coal exports and energy-related imports
Energize Weekly, April 4, 2024
The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, after being hit by a container vessel, has blocked the Port of Baltimore, throttling imports and exports of a wide range of goods, including cars, sugar, and coal.
The port ranks first for auto and light truck imports and received a record 850,000 vehicles in 2023. The harbor is home to the Domino Sugar refinery, which the company says is the largest in the Northern hemisphere.
Baltimore is also entry and exit point for a range of energy-related cargoes, and the impacts on this trade, as a result the cargo ship Dali crashing into the bridge March 26, was evaluated by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
The port is the country’s second-largest hub for exporting coal, accounting for 28 percent of total coal exports in 2023, the EIA said. Norfolk, Virginia, also known as Hampton Roads, is the largest coal export port.
Baltimore is also a major importer of asphalt, fertilizer, and other chemicals.
In three of the last five years, Baltimore coal exports averaged 20 million tons a year, dropping during 2020 as the pandemic reduced worldwide demand for coal.
In 2023, exports surged to 28 million tons. The jump in exports came from increased demand from Asia.
But even before the port’s closure, the EIA was forecasting slower growth in coal exports with a 1 percent increase in 2024 and a 5 percent increase in 2025. “The interruption in operations in Baltimore may affect the volume of exports this year,” the agency said.
The port has two full-service terminals that receive, store and load coal onto oceangoing vessels: the Curtis Bay Coal Piers served by the CSX railroad and the CONSOL Energy Baltimore Marine terminal served by both the CSX and Norfolk Southern railroads.
One advantage of the port is its proximity to the northern Appalachia coal fields in western Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia. “Mines in this region produce both premium quality metallurgical coal and steam coal with a high heat content,” the EIA said.
The main coal export is steam coal, which is used largely for electric power generation and industrial heating. Steam coal shipments averaged around 12 million tons from 2019 to 2022 before swelling to 19 million tons in 2023.
Between 2019 and 2023, the prime destination for U.S. steam coal exports was India, averaging a little under 14 million tons a year. The Indian brick manufacturing industry has been a major customer.
“The halt in coal exports poses a significant risk to global coal supply, particularly to major importers like India,” Energy Ventures Analysis said in a note. “The Indian cement and brick industry, a substantial thermal coal consumer, faces possible supply constraints.”
Among the major recipients for steam coal from Baltimore are several European countries that are reached by ports in the Netherlands, the EIA said.
Baltimore exports of metallurgical coal, used in making steel, have ranged from six million tons to 10 million tons from 2019 to 2023. Japan and China were the two largest importers of U.S. metallurgical coal during that period.
As for other energy and petroleum-related cargoes, Baltimore imports the most asphalt of any port in the country, approximately 4,000 barrels a day in 2023. Most of those shipments come from Canada.
Baltimore also receives the most shipments of urea nitrate – a liquid fertilizer usually imported from Russia – of any port on the Atlantic coast and is the closest port to Midwest markets serving agricultural demand.
Smaller shipments of biodiesel feedstock and edible oils – equal to about 3,000 barrels a day in 2023 – enter the port mainly from Central America and Western Europe.
While the Baltimore port is blocked, the EIA said, Hampton Roads and some other east coast ports have additional capacity to export coal. “Factors including coal quality, pricing, and scheduling will affect how easily companies can switch to exporting from another port,” the agency said.
Similarly for asphalt, other Atlantic coast ports, such as Providence, Rhode Island; New York, New York; and Wilmington, North Carolina, can handle imports. For urea ammonium nitrate, ports in Norfolk, Virginia, and Wilmington, North Carolina, can handle shipments.
