The day after a cargo ship strike destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge, Gov. Wes Moore warned of coming devastation to the economy of Maryland and beyond.

“The collapse of the Key Bridge is a global crisis,” he said.

The wreckage closed a 700-foot-wide shipping channel that connected the Chesapeake Bay to the Port of Baltimore, and the loss of the span severed an important thoroughfare for truckers.

One year after the disaster, however, it is clear that state leaders' forecast of economic doom largely didn’t come to pass.

Experts and community leaders identified three key factors in the rebound: the federal government’s faster-than-expected clearing of the channel; local, state and federal emergency assistance and partnership; and an adaptive community.

With the Port of Baltimore suddenly closed, Reginald McMillan, 57, lost his job at a trucking company — but quickly rebounded.

He leaned into his side gig at the Patapsco Flea Market and eventually got a new trucking job.

“It was a shock, but people just adjust,” McMillan said “Maryland is very resilient.”

Clearing the channel

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ response was critical — and the agency knew it.

Dorie Murphy, the corps’ emergency management branch chief in Baltimore, said that each day the port was closed meant an economic impact of $15 million.

“The Baltimore Harbor is a huge economic engine for all of Maryland and all of the East Coast of the United States,” said Jeff Peacock, the corps’ debris removal chief. “We understood that every hour that it was down, we were losing economic position here in Baltimore.”

Initially, Peacock thought it was “pretty optimistic” that workers could reopen the channel in three months.

It only took 77 days for the corps, along with the private salvage firms, the U.S. Coast Guard, Maryland Transportation Authority and the Department of Environment, to clear the channel to its 50-foot depth, allowing large container ships back into the port.

Financial aid for workers

While that effort was in progress, Maryland lawmakers passed the PORT Act in early April, which dispersed some $34 million in grants and loans to businesses and workers — an effort spearheaded by Moore and supported by Republicans, including state Sen. Johnny Ray Salling.

The U.S. Small Business Administration handed out at least $124 million in disaster relief loans to businesses.

Scott Cowan, president of the Local 333 chapter of the International Longshoremen’s Association, and local business owners said that aid helped workers to pay their bills and stay employed.

The state’s worker retention program provided businesses working directly with the Port of Baltimore up to $200,000 per business. Almost 300 businesses received worker retention grants totaling $17.7 million, Maryland Department of Labor data shows.

The state’s Department of Commerce had a Port of Baltimore Emergency Business Assistance Program that awarded nearly $10 million in grants to affected businesses. The state Department of Housing and Community Development provided $5.9 million in assistance through its Neighborhood Business Works Program.

And the PORT Act includes a permanent Fallen Transportation Workers Scholarship Program and Fund in honor of the six construction workers killed in the collapse.

Once the channel was clear, Cowan said, it took several months to return to normal capacity. In the 24 months before the collapse, the port averaged about 718,000 tons of container flow per month. After the collapse, those numbers took a hit — but recovered by November.

In December, the port recorded its best month of the year, including before the bridge went down.

Larger businesses were more insulated from the channel’s temporary closure.

Peter O’Malley, a spokesman for American Sugar Refining Inc., which owns Domino Sugar, said the company caught a break because a ship loaded with raw sugar arrived at its Baltimore plant just prior to the bridge collapse.

While the channel was cut off, O’Malley, said the company was able to re-route shipments to Philadelphia and truck them down to Baltimore.

“Though it cost more money, we kept our people working,” O’Malley said.

But small businesses like independent trucking companies relied on Maryland state government grants.

Brendon Williams, the owner of Yellow Diamond Trucking, based in Aberdeen, received a small grant. Yellow Diamond has just two employees: Williams, the driver, and his wife, Tanya, the dispatcher.

“I’m a one-man-band show, one truck. So, I mean, it was a lot harder for me,” Williams said. “Everybody has bills. I have a mortgage payment, car payment, insurance, kids, grandkids.”

He said the benefits “helped us out.”

Small businesses had other relief options, as well.

Robert Lovett, the owner and operator of the trucking company Lovett and Sons, received a $25,000 Small Business Administration Economic Injury Disaster Loan.

“It definitely helped us get through, and kind of tide things over,” Lovett said.

Resilient economy, community

The bridge collapse affected the daily lives of many Baltimore-area residents.

But on a broad scale, Baltimore recovered well — and some credit community resilience for that.

McMillan, the trucker, said he didn’t take out a loan with the Small Business Administration or receive any grant money.

He received severance pay from his company to help hold him over, he said, but what really helped was income from New and Used R US, a general-wares store at Patapsco Flea Market.

His regular customers supported him with their steady business.

“It’s a community-based culture in here, and we just take care of each other in here,” McMillan said.

Susil Chhetri, manager of Joe’s Tavern on Dundalk Avenue, said his reliable clientele has kept his business afloat in the aftermath of the Key Bridge collapse, despite decreased foot traffic.

Erica Calvi, the owner of Bicoastal Trucking LLC in Columbia, received a $35,000 state worker retention grant. Calvi said that helped pay drivers and cover maintenance, but business is still hard.

“We’re still recovering,” Calvi said, “We have not recovered.”

Calvi said she wasn’t aware that Small Business Administration loans were an option, and wished the programs were advertised better.

Kevin Perez, owner of Don Chago’s Taco Bar, a food truck across the parking lot from Joe’s Tavern, credits his regular customers for keeping his business afloat following the Key Bridge collapse.

“They’re loyal to us, so we always appreciate it,” he said.

The road ahead

Looking forward, business leaders around the port are optimistic.

Cowan of the longshoremen’s union said that almost all of the dockworkers are back working and the port is beginning to hire again.

In February, the new Key Bridge design was unveiled. It will have 45 more feet of vertical clearance, allowing larger ships to eventually access the harbor. The federal government passed legislation to cover the estimated $2 billion to rebuild the bridge, scheduled to open in fall of 2028.

Andrew Bauer, an economist and vice president for the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, said that the reconstruction could have a positive impact on business in Baltimore.

Bauer thinks losses caused by the immediate aftermath of the collapse can be made up for with the rebuilding — and that hard-hit communities close to the bridge could especially benefit.

Construction workers “are going to be passing through those neighborhoods to get to work on the bridge,” Bauer said.

A survey of Baltimore area residents conducted by The Tyson Group, a research firm, showed that 76% of respondents learned more about the importance of the Port of Baltimore since the collapse.

Tinglong Dai, a Johns Hopkins Carey Business School professor, said the port’s central location along the East Coast and easy access to the Midwest make it invaluable to the nation’s ocean-based trade.

“I know this sounds silly to say this, but I actually think that this disruption has really put the Port of Baltimore on the map,” Dai said. “People started calling us. People started realizing how valuable Baltimore is.”

Capital News Service reporters Sasha Allen, Emily Condon and Mikayla Roberts contributed to this article.

This story was produced by by the Urban Affairs Reporting class at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland in partnership with The Baltimore Banner.