Key Bridge Disaster Highlights The Vital Importance Of American Energy

In the wake of the destruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge at the mouth of Baltimore Harbor, media and public attention suddenly focused on the importance of the nation’s ports. No one should doubt the vital nature of the Port of Baltimore to trade on the U.S. East Coast: The facility is a vital cog in the import and export of cars, coal, and other key commodities.

[Note: This was published at the Daily Caller.]

The legacy media has certainly done a good job of telling that specific story as the week progressed, which is to be commended. But one aspect of the story that hasn’t been told much if at all by these mainstream media outlets is the fact that, as vital as it is to trade on the East Coast, the Port of Baltimore ranks only as the 17th most-active US port in terms of total tonnage.

That’s according to official data compiled annually by the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

As you can see, in terms of total tonnage, the nation’s real powerhouse is the region along the Gulf Coast encompassing ports in Texas and Louisiana. When you add up the numbers, the top 3 ports alone – Houston, Corpus Christi, and South Louisiana – accounted for more total tonnage in 2021 than all the non-Gulf Coast ports on the list combined, by more than 200 million tons.