Patricia Healy, CFA quoted in…

Rating agencies and investors weigh Baltimore bridge collapse

By Scott Sowers – The Bond Buyer – Mar 27, 2024

Excerpt follows:

Investors and credit rating agencies are weighing how much effect the collapse of the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore's inner harbor will have on the local economy and logistics on the East Coast, though early indications suggest no drastic credit impact.

Early Tuesday morning the Singapore-flagged container vessel Dali lost power and crashed into a support which collapsed the 46-year-old bridge and severed a major highway connection between major east coast cities. The wreckage has completely blocked the channel leading into and out of Baltimore Harbor.  

Registered Investment Advisory firm Cumberland Advisors counts themselves as comfortable owners of MDTA paper due to its, "very strong cash position as well as debt service coverage," while also likening the bridge collapse to the effect of major hurricanes.

"As with other disasters, we will evaluate the effects of credit-quality changes as well as the federal, state, and local response on our holdings and other affected municipalities,' said Patricia Healy, SVP of research and portfolio manager, Cumberland Advisors.

With Baltimore's harbor effectively blocked for an unknown time, other East Coast facilities are offering alternative docking stations. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has gone on the record as ready to assist with keeping the supply chain linked.

Early Tuesday morning the Singapore-flagged container vessel Dali lost power and crashed into a support which collapsed the 46-year-old bridge and severed a major highway connection between major east coast cities. The wreckage has completely blocked the channel leading into and out of Baltimore Harbor.

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