International Intelligence Bureau: Bridge collapse affects U.S. economic reconstruction and intensifies party disputes!

　　China News Service, April 2 (Xinhua) Recently, the bridge collision incident in Maryland, USA, has continued to attract attention from the outside world. The collapse of this iconic bridge will not only affect many industries, but will also have a "huge impact" on the US economy. Over the issue of spending on bridge reconstruction, the Democratic and Republican parties in the United States are divided, and partisanship continues to intensify.

On March 26, local time, the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, fractured and collapsed after being hit by a cargo ship. The picture shows an aerial photo of the collapsed bridge in Baltimore.

Bridge collapse 'affects the entire United States'

　　"This (accident) is affecting the entire United States."

　　On March 26, the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, USA collapsed after being struck by a cargo ship. In a recent interview with Fox Business Channel, Governor Moore of the state talked about the huge impact of the bridge collapse.

　　In his view, Maryland won't be the only state to suffer economic consequences from the collapse of the Baltimore Bridge. The Port of Baltimore has a profound impact on the U.S. states, as the port handles more cars, heavy trucks, and agricultural equipment than any other U.S. port.

　　The Port of Baltimore is the busiest automobile shipping port in the United States, handling more than 750,000 vehicles in 2023, according to the Maryland Port Authority. It is also the port that handles the largest quantities of agricultural and construction machinery and agricultural products.

　　Economists predict Americans will feel inflationary "pressures" on bills, gasoline prices and other goods as the bridge collapse hits freight and maritime traffic at the port.

　　According to the Associated Press, the closure of the Port of Baltimore will cause economic losses of $15 million per day. Because the Port of Baltimore directly employs more than 15,000 workers, and port operations also indirectly support nearly 140,000 other jobs, the closure of the port will also cause many of them to temporarily lose their jobs or reduce their working hours.

　　Moore also stressed that "Kentucky farmers, Ohio car dealers and restaurants in Louisiana and Tennessee" will be affected.

　　Additionally, billions of dollars of cargo will need to be rerouted in a situation where supply chains could be bogged down for months. Experts analyzed that the collapse of the Baltimore Bridge increased the pressure on shipping under the Red Sea crisis, further increasing transportation costs at U.S. East Coast ports.

Cleaning up is a difficult problem, while reconstruction leads to party disputes

　　After the accident, the cleanup and reconstruction work at the Baltimore Bridge site also became difficult.

　　The Washington Post quoted the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) as saying that 56 containers on board the cargo ship DALI that hit the bridge were loaded with 764 tons of hazardous materials, including corrosive and flammable liquids. Among them, 14 containers carrying hazardous materials were damaged.

　　The report quoted Huta, executive director of Waterkeepers Chesapeake, a non-profit water quality monitoring organization, as saying, "Whenever such a catastrophic event occurs, it may cause water pollution." Huta said that more than one million people live in the basin.

　　However, no details of the hazardous materials investigation results of the NTSB and the U.S. Coast Guard have been made public. At present, some treatment to absorb pollutants has been carried out near the collapse site, and relevant parties are still closely monitoring whether there is contamination.

　　Rebuilding the bridge will also cost a huge amount of money. According to previous reports, the economic analysis company predicted that the initial estimate of the reconstruction cost of the bridge was US$600 million. However, the US "Capitol Hill" quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that federal officials have told Maryland lawmakers that the reconstruction cost may soar to at least US$200 million. One hundred million U.S. dollars.

　　On the other hand, partisanship in the United States is intensifying over the cost of rebuilding the bridge.

　　U.S. President Biden recently vowed that the federal government will bear the huge cost of rebuilding the bridge. Democrats supporting Biden argue that the value of the Port of Baltimore transcends the state's borders and that repairing the bridge is an important national issue, but Republicans have expressed strong opposition. They believe that the bridge is a local issue and should be solved by local governments. The debate is expected to intensify after MPs return from vacation in mid-April.

　　There is currently no clear timeline for the bridge's debris removal and reconstruction. Moore said it was a "very complex operation." He said, "We know this is going to be a long road to recovery, but we know we have to move safely and we have to move fast to get the business engine running again." (End)