Just as the Port of Baltimore is climbing back after the Key Bridge collapse, its top leader is heading south.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Daniels<\/a>, who has been the Maryland Port Administration\u2019s executive director since early 2024, will leave his post in mid-August and become the CEO of PortMiami in Florida.<\/p>\n The bulk of his tenure has been spent restoring shipping commerce following the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, which happened seven weeks after he started the job. Shipping lanes were closed for months following the March 2024 tragedy<\/a>. <\/p>\n During a National Maritime Day celebration last month aboard the NS Savannah<\/a>, Daniels noted that Baltimore set records last year for the number of containers<\/a> and ships it handled. The port has largely bounced back from the collapse but has not quite returned to its standing as one of the nation\u2019s top 10 ports<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe recovery, though we\u2019re not there yet, we\u2019re getting back there,\u201d he said in a speech.<\/p>\n Maryland Transportation Secretary Katie Thomson in a statement Tuesday called Daniels \u201ccritical to our ability to steer the Port of Baltimore through the challenges that followed the collapse of the Key Bridge.\u201d<\/p>\n Daniels will take over PortMiami, the No. 1 port in the nation<\/a> for cruise passengers. He previously led another busy cruising terminal in Port Everglades, Florida, from 2020 to 2023.<\/p>\n Baltimore remains more of a shipping port, though it is one of the busiest East Coast cruise ports<\/a> outside of Florida.<\/p>\n Samantha Biddle, who recently served as acting secretary of transportation, will act as the interim port director.<\/p>\n Baltimore\u2019s next director will take over at a crucial time for the port. With the addition of Tradepoint Atlantic\u2019s new container terminal<\/a> at Sparrows Point, Baltimore is expected to have the third-most container capacity on the East Coast in 2028.<\/p>\n