Maryland Governor Moore: Bridge Collapse Is A ‘National Economic Catastrophe’

Maryland Governor Wes Moore said over the weekend that the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge last week was not a regional crisis but a national crisis that has the potential to hurt the U.S. economy.

Moore made the remarks during a Sunday interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” while discussing last week’s incident, which happened when a 1,000-foot cargo ship, the Dali, hit the bridge, causing it to instantly collapse.

“More than 1.1 million containers of cargo passed through the Port of Baltimore last year, including more cars and light trucks than any other port in the U.S.,” host Dana Bash said. “What effect is this going to have beyond Maryland on the national economy and the supply chain? Could Americans see delays and higher prices as a result?”

“Absolutely,” Moore responded. “And people have to remember, this is not a — this is not a Baltimore catastrophe, not a Maryland catastrophe. This is a national economic catastrophe as well. We — as you mentioned, I mean, this port is one of the busiest, most active ports inside of the country.”

“And so this is not just having an impact on Maryland. This is going to impact the farmer in Kentucky. This is going to impact the auto dealer in Ohio. This is going to impact the restaurant owner in Tennessee,” he continued.

“Whether you’re talking about all those various industries, the Port of Baltimore is the largest port in the country for all of those things,” he concluded. “And so the reason that we need people to move in a bipartisan basis and move in a fast basis is not because we need you to do Maryland a favor. Maryland needs no favors. We need to make sure that we’re actually moving quickly to get the American economy going again, because the Port of Baltimore is instrumental in our larger economic growth.”

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