Stranded Coal Ship Departs Baltimore as Dali Salvage Work Continues

A coal ship stranded at the Port of Baltimore set sail for Singapore this week as crews work to remove the Dali container ship that crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing it to collapse and block access to the port.

The Liberian-flagged JY River exited the port via a temporary channel on Thursday, according to LSEG data and a source familiar with the ship's movements.

The ship was stuck at the port after the March 26 bridge collapse that killed six construction workers and halted traffic to the trade hub that accounted for 28% of U.S. coal exports last year.

Based on updated export data, success rerouting coal shipments to alternate ports and progress resuming trade via Baltimore, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Tuesday revised its 2024 coal export forecast up from its worst-case scenario outlook issued last month, said Jonathan Church, an agency economist specializing in coal.

The May EIA forecast calls for 2024 coal exports to fall 1.1% versus 2023, Church said. In early April, the agency forecast a 5.3% decline, he said.

The EIA's March outlook, issued before the bridge collapse, called for growth of about 1% this year.

The bridge collapse "will be mainly a short-term impact in April, May and some of the summer months as bottlenecks clear," Church said.

Meanwhile, the Portuguese-flagged Klara Oldendorff, another coal carrier stranded by the bridge collapse, remains moored at the Baltimore port, according to LSEG data.

(Reuters - Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)