A surge in coal exports from the port of Baltimore has turned the Chesapeake Bay into a maritime parking lot.
Demand from China, India and other countries for high-priced metallurgic coal to fuel steel production has grown so strong that ships are backed up south of the bridge waiting to gain a berth at one of Baltimore's two coal terminals.
To Helen Delich Bentley, the former congresswoman and federal maritime commissioner for whom the port of Baltimore is named, the vessels are reminiscent of the city's shipping heyday in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
"It's kind of like the old days when we had ships waiting in the bay for their turn at the pier," said Bentley, now a maritime industry consultant. [end excerpt]
Some bright engineer should build a big coal-fired power plant across the Mexican border from San Diego and start producing energy. The Californians will come knocking, soon enough...