Distribution Holds Up, After Bridge Comes Down

By Denise Williams | Channel Connection

March 26, 2025, marked one year since the Francis Scott Key Bridge buckled and was partially engulfed by Maryland’s Patapsco River. Surreal video of the massive structure crumpling into the water after being rammed by a container vessel stunned the nation, which collectively mourned six souls who perished as a result.

While certainly the most tragic outcome, loss of life was not the only consequence of the bridge collapse — which also spawned a logistical nightmare. To put it in perspective for those unfamiliar with the region, Chesapeake Plywood’s Lucas Grace draws a visual. “The Key Bridge was on the Baltimore Beltway. A beltway is a circle, obviously, and now it’s not,” explains Grace, sales manager at the wholesale plywood distributor located about 15 minutes from the bridge. “It was a huge impact.” The loss of a major commuter and trucking route notwithstanding, the wreckage effectively paralyzed the Port of Baltimore by blocking the shipping channel. All operations halted for approximately 2-1/2 months, choking off a key supply valve for the area. The loss of livelihood, the loss of ground and water transportation options, and other related pressures on the local economy challenged the surrounding community, including resident distribution businesses like Chesapeake Plywood and Roesel-Heck Co.

Bad News in the Backyard

“The bridge was located literally in our ‘backyard,’ notes Robert J. Blitzstein (pictured, right), president of Roesel-Heck, a flooring distributor. Similarly to Chesapeake Plywood, the 1.6-mile span had served as a critical thoroughfare for employees to get to work and for truckers to deliver product from suppliers and to customers. Leadership at both companies were rattled by the breaking news, but they were also prepared — as much as they could be — for the turmoil that was to follow.

After the initial shock and disbelief, Roesel-Heck’s management team sprang into action. “Our company always has a policy of ‘expect the unexpected,’” Blitzstein notes, “and with that strategy, we do our best to plan for possible scenarios,” no matter how unlikely they may seem. The COVID-19 pandemic may be the most recent major example of supply-chain disruption prior to the bridge collapse, but Blitzstein also recalls the 2008 economic crash and, at the organizational level, the loss of a major product line in 2016 followed by the ‘mass exodus’ of Roesel-Heck’s sales team.

Last spring, even as they tried to process the sight of a void space where the Key Bridge should have been suspended, he says company managers understood the importance of surveying the situation from an operations perspective.

“Our management team’s primary goal became assessing and managing our inventories, both the inventory we had on hand as well as having a full understanding of the inventories our suppliers maintained in the States versus what was scheduled to arrive to the port on container ships,” Blitzstein explains. “We had to minimize the impact of any potential supply chain issues to our customers. Our goal as a distributor is to always provide prompt service and timely deliveries.”

Roesel-Heck was able to maintain continuity of business even during the critical period when the port was out of commission thanks to the diversity of its product offerings — many of which are manufactured here in the United States rather than imported from overseas.

Compared to COVID

The bridge collapse also sparked reminders of COVID-19 for Chesapeake Plywood’s Grace (pictured, left), who agrees that the public health emergency helped reinforce the need to be ready for any possibility and to “plan for the worst.” As the high-end distributor tried to get a handle on what business would look like without the bridge and without the Baltimore port, leaders recognized it was indeed going to be tough — although nowhere near as dire as during a nationwide pandemic that congested all the country’s ports. The family-owned business would have to pivot, for sure, but much of the fallout would be contained locally.

“We knew the port was going to be shut down, it was going to cost more money, and it was going to be inconvenient,” Grace recalls. Although a sizeable operation, Chesapeake — known for its specialty plywood — relies heavily on imported product. Moreover, with a single location, it had no alternative space to house its materials when the Port of Baltimore went offline. Wherever that merchandise was redirected — and the company had no say in the matter — he says “it would either get unloaded and we would ship it to us or we would just train the container from New Jersey or Philadelphia to our location, on our dime.” The additional expenses were a disadvantage for the distributor, which Grace points out still had to compete with peer companies whose costs were fixed because perhaps they had already brought their load into another port.

Where Chesapeake was fortunate, according to Grace, was in the size of its one location and the sheer volume of inventory on hand. “I think the biggest takeaway [from the accident] is that you can never have enough inventory and that you must continue to protect and plan for your regular customers,” he concludes. For a customer that expects to purchase 10 bundles a month for the next 6 months, for example, Grace wouldn’t recommend just-in-time delivery, although that is a popular service that the company provides. “Give us the order now, let us allocate it for you, let us hold it, so that you’re taken care of and we can plan accordingly,” in unforeseen circumstances, he advises.

Continuity Possible With Care, Concern, and Connection

The destruction of the Key Bridge, which is slated to be re-built by late 2028, was a terrible tragedy. At the same time, it is a testament to the resiliency of the distribution channel and its commitment to customers and partners. Both Roesel-Heck and Chesapeake Plywood leaned into those business relationships during what proved to be a trying time.

“We received so many calls and emails on the day of the Key Bridge collapse, as well as in the following days, from our customers, suppliers, and industry peers,” Blitzstein recalls. “Everyone’s main concern was for the safety and security of our company and its people.”

The outreach worked both ways. As news of the disaster spread, Grace says the team at Chesapeake began putting in calls to reassure the distributor’s partners and best customers. “We said, ‘this is what’s going on, this is what we have on the floor; we know your usage — you’re covered!” he recalls. “We allocated material for people, and we lost some orders because we really wanted to take care of the people that have taken care of us over the years.”

Grace adds that the way distributors persevered during this period of adversity should come as no surprise to anyone who understands how the channel works.

“Sometimes people think distribution isn’t important in the supply chain,” he explains, alluding specifically to customers who buy direct. Chesapeake has some large customers who purchase big volume, he continues, yet they choose to work with the distributor although they could easily hop online and figure out how to broker containers themselves. “Where distributors are good,” Grace touts, “is they don’t usually have just one vendor or one supplier. Chesapeake has distribution friends in Texas, Georgia, Florida, and New York; and we can help each other. We trade with each other on a regular basis — and that’s something that I think a lot of people don’t realize goes on. It’s a really important piece to why we’re all successful.”

With the stability of the supply chain constantly being tested, that network and attitude matter.  Distributors continue to demonstrate, time and time again, that they can be counted on as a community to identify solutions for maintaining service to customers, caring for their employees, and keeping the flow of goods moving no matter the adversity. That resiliency is evident whether the next disruption shows up as an economic crisis, a public health scare or weather catastrophe, geopolitical drama ... or even the tragic and unceremonious loss of a bridge creating a literal break in the supply chain.