U.S. officials are rushing to reopen a vital shipping lane in Baltimore but have no timetable for when the important waterway might be cleared. The Port of Baltimore remains closed indefinitely as authorities look at how to clear the enormous volume of debris left when a containership crashed into a bridge, sending the structure collapsing into the Patapsco River. The WSJ’s Jon Kamp, Suryatapa Bhattacharya and Sabrina Siddiqui report that work is underway at the same time to try to recover the remains of workers who were thrown into the water and killed. The National Transportation Safety Board has recovered the black box voyage data recorder from the Dali and has it at a lab. The ship itself is stable, but it has more than 1.5 million gallons of fuel and lubricating oil on board along with 4,700 cargo containers, including boxes holding hazardous materials.

• A safety probe into the Baltimore bridge collapse will include whether contaminated fuel played a role in the giant cargo ship losing power. (WSJ)
• A car carrier hauling Volkswagen automobiles arrived at Sparrows Point outside the Port of Baltimore, in the first shipment arrival since the bridge collapse. (Dow Jones Newswires)

The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge near the Port of Baltimore offered another gut punch for a city that has had its fair share. The collapse of the bridge, which left six people presumed dead, has also upended businesses and workers throughout the region, from small trucking companies to bars and restaurants along the gritty industrial corridors in the port’s shadow. The WSJ’s Cameron McWhirter reports that Brian Gill, president of local trucker JBK Transportation, is worried that shipping businesses rerouting to other ports might never come back to Baltimore. The port is an economic engine for a broad ecosystem of businesses from regional companies involved in importing, exporting and distribution to small operators that serve the port’s thousands of workers. Growth in logistics sites around the port like the Tradepoint Atlantic development at Sparrows Point has helped take some of the sting out of lost manufacturing.

• Cruise line operator Carnival says the bridge collapse in Baltimore will hit its bottom line. (WSJ)

The next steps in the use of artificial intelligence in logistics operations are becoming clearer. Companies growing more comfortable with the technology are focusing on cutting costs, speeding up distribution and getting ahead of likely disruptions as they look for potential benefits of generative AI. The WSJ Logistics Report’s Liz Young writes the developing technology tool that can quickly sort through large amounts of information, make predictions and respond to questions, is a potential boon to logistics operations that are bursting with data. Software firm Celonis says it’s working with snack-food supplier Mars to look at whether to combine truck loads, a task that often had the business evaluating a range of factors manually. Secondhand apparel retailer ThredUp has been using AI in its distribution centers to “improve throughput and productivity,” including fleshing out descriptions of goods that warehouse workers had been putting together manually.

• Amazon invested an additional $2.75 billion in the artificial-intelligence startup Anthropic. (WSJ)
• Pittsburgh-based Gather AI raised $17 million in a Series A extension funding round backing its warehouse inventory tracking technology using drones. (Axios)

The Japanese yen hit its weakest level against the dollar since July 1990. (WSJ)

A measure of U.S. consumer confidence dipped in March to a four-month low. (MarketWatch)

China’s industrial profits swung to 10.2% growth in the first two months of 2024. (WSJ)

The Biden administration will enlarge a list of companies under an import ban because of their alleged ties to forced labor in China. (WSJ)

McCormick & Co.’s quarterly sales revenue rose as higher prices offset declining volume. (WSJ)

South Korea’s SK Hynix is looking into building a $4 billion U.S. chip packaging plant. (Nikkei Asia)

British car exports to Canada are facing tariffs of more than 6% within days under an increasingly acrimonious trade dispute. (Financial Times)

Apple’s iPhone shipments in China fell by about a third in February. (South China Morning Post)

United Parcel Service plans to close about 200 facilities in the U.S. as it consolidates package volumes at automated hubs. (Supply Chain Dive)

Amazon says it spent about $1.2 billion last year combating counterfeit goods. (Modern Retail)

A federal judge dismissed Yellow’s suit against the Teamsters union over the company’s shutdown last year. (Commercial Carrier Journal)

Australian authorities are investigating the latest instance in which large numbers of cattle have died on a live export vessel. (Maritime Executive)

Maersk and DSV are among seven to 10 companies that have submitted non-binding offers for freight forwarder DB Schenker. (ShippingWatch)

Loaded container imports at South Carolina’s Port of Charleston increased 11% year-over-year in February. (Port Technology)

Tanker operator TEN’s net profit rose nearly fivefold in the first half of the fiscal year to $237.2 million. (Lloyd’s List)

Rail boxcar suppliers are asking regulators to change compensation rules to avert a potential shortage of the freight equipment. (Progressive Railroading)

Paul Page is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at paul.page@wsj.com.

Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team: @PaulPage, @bylizyoung and @pdberger. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report on X at @WSJLogistics.