Car shipper Wallenius Wilhelmsen sees up to $10 million hit from Baltimore disaster

Wallenius Wilhelmsen ASA

03/04/2024 14:22

LONDON, April 3 (Reuters) - Norwegian car shipping firm
Wallenius Wilhelmsen estimates a $5 million to $10 million hit
to core earnings from last week's U.S. Baltimore bridge collapse
and expects the key ship channel to be closed for weeks, it said
on Wednesday. 
    The company said its vessel Carmen remained stuck in
Baltimore's port with the ship and its crew ready to sail as
soon as the shipping channel was reopened.  
    Recovery teams opened a second channel enabling smaller
vessels to navigate the Port of Baltimore on Tuesday, but most
commercial shipping remains blocked by the collapsed bridge and
stranded container ship that brought the structure down a week
ago.
    "We have estimated that the aggregated provisional total
financial impact on EBITDA of the situation is in the range of
$5-10 million, assuming the disruptions last for up to a month,"
Wallenius Wilhelmsen, one of the world's leading vehicle
carriers, said in a statement on Wednesday. 
    "We currently expect the closure to last for weeks and have
based our impact estimates on that assumption," it said. 
    "Once open, we anticipate the terminal will also promptly
resume normal cargo operations as vessels begin to make port
calls as previously scheduled."
    "There is of course risk of delays to the anticipated
reopening, or unforeseen challenges in the salvage operations."
    The Port of Baltimore ranks first in the U.S. for the volume
it handles of autos and light trucks, farm and construction
machinery, imported sugar and imported gypsum, according to the
state of Maryland. 
    Some terminal operations outside the affected area have
resumed.

 (Reporting by Jonathan Saul; Editing by Jan Harvey)
 ((jonathan.saul@thomsonreuters.com; + 44 207 542 4357 ; Reuters
Messaging: jonathan.saul.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))