The Key Bridge Collapse Shows How Much US Coal Now Depends on Export Docks
The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge into the Patapsco River on March 26 closed the Port of Baltimore to shipping. The human toll was the first story. The economic one is still unfolding, and for energy markets it is mostly a coal story. Baltimore handled 28% of US coal exports in 2023, second only to Hampton Roads in Virginia. The port's two coal terminals connect the northern Appalachian coal fields to buyers in India, Europe and East Asia.
For several weeks at least, that link is broken. The episode is a reminder of something that is easy to miss in discussions of coal's decline at home. A shrinking share of US coal is burned in American power plants. Coal exports from Baltimore were around 20 million short tons in three of the past five years, with 2020 the exception as the pandemic cut demand worldwide. In 2023 they jumped to 28 million short tons, driven mainly by growing demand in Asia.
Most of that is steam coal, used for power generation and industrial heat. Steam coal shipments averaged about 12 million short tons a year from 2019 to 2022 before reaching 19 million short tons in 2023. Japan took 28% of Baltimore's metallurgical shipments in 2023, and China and South Korea have been the next largest buyers over five years. Two terminals do the work: the Curtis Bay Coal Piers, served by CSX, and the CONSOL Energy Baltimore Marine Terminal, served by both CSX and Norfolk Southern.
The Energy Information Administration's latest outlook puts total US coal consumption at 482 million short tons in 2024, 29% below 2019. When a domestic power plant closes, a mine loses one customer among several. The EIA notes that other ports, notably Hampton Roads, have spare capacity to export coal, but switching is not simple. The Baltimore disruption matters most for coal and for some specialized imports. Before the bridge fell, the EIA expected US coal exports to grow only 1% in 2024. The broader point is that the US coal industry's future increasingly depends on demand outside the United States, and especially in Asia.