After last year’s bridge collapse paralyzed the Port of Baltimore, Jonathan Daniels said he spoke with port directors up and down the East Coast. He thanked them for handling Baltimore’s cargo in a moment of crisis before delivering a stern message.

“We want our damn cargo back,” said Daniels, executive director of the Maryland Port Administration.

Today, most of that cargo is back. Figures released by the Port of Baltimore on Tuesday show the port has almost fully rebounded from the March 26 Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster, even as it lost ground to competitors.

For the first time in more than a decade, Baltimore was not the busiest U.S. port for cars. The Port of Brunswick in Georgia took that crown, handling 841,000 cars — and setting up a tight rematch for 2025.

The Port of Baltimore moved 847,000 cars in 2023. That total dropped to about 750,000 in 2024. About 14,000 cars originally destined for Baltimore were handled by Brunswick instead, according to The Associated Press. Other ports absorbed the rest.

Speaking to an audience Thursday night at the Public Works Experience building at the Inner Harbor, Daniels said the Port of Baltimore is “handling about 90% of the ships” as compared to pre-collapse figures.

The wreckage in the Patapsco River blocked the shipping channel leading to most port terminals for one month. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies established a temporary channel, and less than three months after the collapse, the channel fully reopened.

Despite the port’s partial closure and a short-lived dockworkers’ strike last fall, the Port of Baltimore still had one of its best years on record. It notched its second-highest cargo tonnage total — 46 million tons — and its third-highest total cargo value — $62 billion worth of goods.

Still, the port slipped in national rankings, falling to 10th in cargo value and 11th in total tonnage. The port ranked ninth in both categories for 2023.

“We’re very competitive,” Daniels said, sounding like the former college football coach that he is. “We’re going to get back inside that top 10.”

Baltimore remained at its No. 1 ranking for wheeled farm and construction machinery, imported forest products and imported gypsum (a mineral used in a variety of products, including construction materials).

“As port directors, we are extremely competitive,” Daniels said, noting that “poaching” cargo from other ports is part of the business.

The U.S. is the world’s top importer of cars, and Baltimore had ranked as the country’s No. 1 car handler for 13 straight years. In recent years, though, Brunswick has been nipping at Baltimore’s heels.

The Georgia port, which focuses on cars as compared to containers, received $262 million worth of improvements last year and plans to complete another berth for car carriers, which are known as “ro-ros,” in 2027.

The Associated Press reported in July that Griff Lynch, CEO of the Georgia Ports Authority, said his goal was for Brunswick to overtake Baltimore — but fairly, and not because of the bridge collapse.

This month, Lynch acknowledged that Baltimore was “handicapped” in 2024.

“We don’t want to take advantage of that,” Lynch said, according to the AP. “So we’ll see if we maintain it in 2025.”