Business was slow at the Port of Baltimore the first two weeks after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, said Ryan Roberson, owner of Robee Trucking. By week three, shipment numbers had hit historic lows and work had dried up.

Federal and state departments swooped in to offer loans and grants to small businesses like Roberson’s, which chiefly serviced the port. The extra money helped for a while, but six months out from the tragedy, data from the U.S. Small Business Administration and the state Department of Commerce shows many local businesses have yet to recover.

What started as roughly 1,000 applications for low-interest loans in the immediate aftermath of the collapse has skyrocketed to more than 5,500 as of late September. By a wide margin, most are from transportation companies.

For most, the federal small-business loans are a short-term solution.

Until a new bridge is built — opening to traffic in fall 2028 is the goal — there will be financial challenges in the shipping and trucking industries. This has led some transportation and logistics companies to sue the owners of the Dali cargo ship in a class-action lawsuit, alleging the incident “continues to collectively cost thousands of individuals and businesses billions of dollars.”

As an alternative to borrowing from the government, some local businesses have pursued state-funded grants. Maryland’s Department of Commerce set aside $15 million in grants, while the Department of Labor offered $27.5 million collectively for employee retention and workers ineligible for unemployment benefits, which includes many contract truckers.

After receiving $70,000 in grant funding, Roberson said, he was able to buoy his businesses from April to June. But those funds ran out by late July — and his business hasn’t been able to supplement it since then.

Before the disaster, he had 18 drivers. Now he has six. Many of his clients rerouted shipments to Norfolk, Virginia, along with much of Baltimore’s cargo.

“I definitely appreciated the help in the beginning, but in the last few months I wish they did one more for us,” Roberson said.

Roberson is not alone. Because grant funding deadlines have passed and port shipments have yet to rebound to pre-collapse numbers, local transportation businesses are increasingly pursuing federal loans to stay afloat.

The Maryland Department of Commerce grant applications for businesses closed three weeks after the port reopened. Hundreds of businesses applied for over $24 million in relief; the state had $15 million available to disburse.

Meanwhile, though improving, the port has only shipped half the container tons in July 2024 compared to pre-collapse numbers.

Now dockworkers along the East Coast — including in Baltimore — are poised to strike Tuesday morning. A work stoppage would ripple across the local economy and affect the same companies that were hurt by the bridge collapse.

Baltimore leads in applicants for state grants with over $3 million disbursed, followed by $2.7 million in Baltimore County. For SBA disaster loans, on the other hand, Montgomery County has the largest share at more than $11 million, with Baltimore County not far behind at $6.7 million.

Even before the Key Bridge collapse, the trucking industry had been struggling. By the end of 2023, tens of thousands of trucking companies had shut down thanks, in part, to inflation and plummeting freight rates. Soon after the disaster, it became clear to public officials that local truckers would be some of the hardest hit by the tragedy.

“This port is critically important to our economy. Millions of containers go through the Port of Baltimore every year. Most of that is moved by small independent truckers that are now out of business. They’re desperate. And we want to make sure they get all the help that they need, not only from the SBA,” Sen. Ben Cardin said in April.

Roberson said he’s hesitant to take out a loan. He first pursued grants because he’s still paying off his Paycheck Protection Program loans from the pandemic and several of his trucks.

“It’s almost like you’re working for nothing,” he said. “I’d rather kind of just fight through the storm and sell my assets that I have and try to just go from there.”