Scott Cowan, president of the International Longshoremen’s Association Local 333 in Maryland, said the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore is a “catastrophic event,” not just for the state’s drivers and the families who lost loved ones, but also the ports’ workers.
Cowan joined WTOP on Wednesday to discuss the future impact the port’s partial closure will have on its longshoremen.
The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity.
Scott Cowan: There’s about 2,400 ILA union longshoremen in the Port of Baltimore. And last year alone, we worked over four million man hours in the port. So it’s a big impact to the longshoremen and their families and it’s a catastrophic event.
Anne Kramer: Scott, was your phone ringing off the hook when you learned of what happened? And what have the calls and what have the workers been asking of you and telling you?
Scott Cowan: Well, the workers are wondering how they’re going to feed their family, if their benefits are going to be protected. And what the future holds for us as the longshoremen of the port of Baltimore.
Shawn Anderson: Among the companies that you have contracts with, have they given you an indication, has anybody, the government, given you an indication of how long the port might be closed?
Scott Cowan: It’s really too early to tell. The Army Corps of Engineers and surveyors will determine those things and then they’ll bring assets in to dredge and salvage the steel and concrete and all that stuff and clear the shipping channel out. It all depends. I mean, you got a lot of factors going into this, it isn’t just as easy as it may seem to some
Anne Kramer: Scott, explain for our listeners so they can better understand what it looks like at the port right now versus what it usually looks like with all the ships going in and out. What is happening now? And is there any indication since they stopped this shipping traffic? Are there ships that are actually stuck inside the port?
Scott Cowan: There’s a couple ships inside the harbor that are here. The cargo in the terminals will quickly dwindle as it gets delivered out by truck, or rail, or various other ways. Once the delivering of the cargo dwindles, then more and more longshoremen will be laid off. There’ll be a little bit of maintenance to be done to keep the terminals operational, but the cargo is the driver here.
Shawn Anderson: What else would you like us to know about the situation for your union members?
Scott Cowan: During the pandemic, our longshoreman didn’t miss a day, unloading and loading ships, getting products to market that everybody was in such desperate need of, and now it seems like it’s turned, where now longshoremen are in desperate need of making a living to feed their families. The consumers will still get their goods from other ports via truck. It’s not just the 2,400 long ILA longshoreman, you got almost 20,000 direct jobs attached to this port and 100,000 indirect jobs. It’s a big economic impact to the state of Maryland to the tune of $191 million a day.
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