Expert discusses impact to U.S. economy since the collapse of major Baltimore bridge

(WGGB/WSHM) - We’re speaking with an economics expert on how the collapse of the Maryland bridge could impact the economy in Massachusetts.

We’re told this tragedy will have a major impact on the U.S. economy, all the way up and down the east coast, since Baltimore is one of our major ports and one local professor feels the impact may spread beyond the United States.

Early Tuesday morning, the Francis Scott Key bridge collapsed closing down a major U.S. shipping harbor in Baltimore, Maryland after an overseas shipping tanker crashed into the bridge.

John Rogers, professor of economics at American International College in Springfield, told Western Mass News he expects this tragedy will have a huge impact on the economy both nationally and across the world.

“So they’re all kind of adding up to more cost and more difficulty for ocean transportation, which is the main way that we get goods obviously around the world, it mostly goes by sea,” said Rogers.

Explained that now, in addition to a drought at the the Panama Canal and the Middle East conflict leading to attacks at ports in the Red Sea, the global economy has already has already taken a hit. Now with yet another harbor down it’s only going to add to the overall cost of shipping.

Rogers added that the Baltimore port was one of the biggest in the U.S. and although there are other ports they can reroute shipments to across the east coast it’s going to be a major challenge for distributors located near the Baltimore harbor.

“There’s so much infrastructure, warehousing and distribution infrastructure for companies like Amazon and FedEx that’s been built up with that bridge as the anchor and now it’s gone so it’s a major impact all the way around,” explained Rogers.

As here in Western Massachusetts, Professor Rogers doesn’t foresee a large direct impact however with the increased shipping costs likely to stem from the collapse of this main artery it’s only going to add to the already growing cost of living.

“This is another push on inflation,” noted Rogers. “Oil prices are going up a little bit so we’re going to see maybe $4 worth of gas in the summer. So everything adds up and we’re trying to get out of this inflation situation and this doesn’t help.”

On a more positive note with the rerouting of goods to other east coast ports, Massachusetts may see more business coming to our shores however Rodgers said that won’t come without challenges.

“It’s going to put a lot more pressure and you have to increase capacity,” said Rogers. “I think it’s gonna be very difficult to do. I mean we’ll sort it out but it’s going to take time.”

Rogers added that this collapse could cause issues with traffic in this region for years to come.