A substantial cleanup effort is underway to clear the wreckage caused by a cargo ship losing power and colliding with one of the pillars supporting the Key Bridge in the Baltimore Harbor. The Maryland governor’s office has confirmed that the cleanup operation at the site will run continuously, and President Biden has emphasized the critical importance of the bridge.
Straight Arrow News contributor Peter Zeihan explains why he believes that, despite the significance of water transport in the developed world, the temporary closure of one of America’s foremost ports will not severely impact the nation’s shipping industry.
Excerpted from Peter’s April 1 “Zeihan on Geopolitics” newsletter:
At this point, we’ve all heard about the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsing in Baltimore on March 26. While it may seem like this should drastically impact American shipping, I’m really not worried about it…
Before this catastrophe, I was convinced that the Jones Act hadn’t done anything good for America. However, I can now say that the Jones Act has one redeeming quality — since cargo transport on American waterways has drastically fallen since the Jones Act was introduced, the fallout of this bridge collapse won’t be as bad as it could have been. That’s a positive, right?
In a world without the Jones Act, natural port systems like the Chesapeake Bay would be teeming with manufacturing and short-haul shipping. I’m not convinced the prevention of some immediate disruptions is worth utterly stifling economic growth, but hey, I’ll let the policymakers come to their own conclusions.