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Quest Means Business

Baltimore Bridge Collapse After Cargo Ship Collision; Truth Social Shares Surge On First Day; NY Judge Issues Gag Order On Trump In Hush Money Trail. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired March 26, 2024 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[16:00:35]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: There's the bell ringing on Wall Street. Trading has finished for the day. Jubilation on the markets as you

can see, the Dow take back most of the gains over the course of the day, in fact, just teetered into the red at the end, but not terribly significant.

Those are the markets, and these are the main events of the day.

A may-day call, probably saved the lives before a Baltimore bridge collapse. The warning allowed authorities to hold off traffic on both sides

of the bridge.

The collapse forces global shippers to divert cargo or avoiding the Port of Baltimore.

And Donald Trump's media company ends today more than 10 percent up on its first day of trading. It lost ground at the end of the day.

We are live from London, on Tuesday, it March 26th. I am Richard Quest. I mean, business,.

Good evening.

Rescue teams are searching for victims following the stunning bridge collapse in the Baltimore area after a cargo ship, a massive container ship

hit it last night. This is the scene at the moment.

Eight people were on the Francis Scott Key Bridge when it was struck by the ship called the Dali. Two of those on the bridge have been pulled from the

water alive. A councilwoman now says one body has been recovered.

Apparently, the ship lost power moments before crashing into the bridge. The governor of Maryland says its crew had issued a may-day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. WES MOORE (D-MD): We had a ship that was coming in at eight knots, so coming at a very, very rapid speed.

I have to say, I am thankful for the folks who once the warning came up, and once notification came up, that there was a may-day who literally by

being able to stop cars from coming over the bridge, these people are heroes. They saved lives last night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: For a full review of the day's events, what happened and how it unfolded, CNN's Pete Muntean with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Investigators have new questions about the final moments before the crippled container ship,

Dali veered off course and into Baltimore's Key Bridge. The 911 calls to stop traffic, frantic as steel and concrete plunged into the Patapsco River

below.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The entire Key Bridge is in the harbor. I advise to hold all traffic from coming through the bridge. I advise again, the entire Key

Bridge has fallen into the harbor.

MUNTEAN (voice over): Officials say the Dali set sail at 12:28 AM under the command of a Port of Baltimore pilot, who boards large ships as they

navigate the 700-foot wide channel.

Security video shows minutes before the impact, the lights on board the Dali shut off twice, then the bough swung right, briefed by the Coast

Guard, Maryland Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger says the crew experienced power issues and a loss of propulsion with alarms on the bridge blaring.

MOORE: The preliminary investigation points to an accident. We haven't seen any credible evidence of a terrorist attack.

MUNTEAN (voice over): Key to investigators will be the ship's black box mandated by international law. A voyage data recorder captures parameters

like heading, speed, and water depth, as well as the condition of the engines, thrusters, and rudder.

The recorder also captures crew conversations on the bridge, key to investigators probing what caused the crew to apparently lose control.

JENNIFER HOMENDY, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD CHAIR: It will be critical. It is a critical piece of our investigation, which is why we have

the recorders' team here.

MUNTEAN (voice over): The latest data shows the Dali was traveling at a speed of eight knots, roughly nine miles per hour, fast enough to trigger a

disaster that could have been much worse.

MARY SCHIAVO, FORMER INSPECTOR GENERAL, USDOT: Undoubtedly that made a call from the ship, saved countless lives. I mean, there have been collapsed of

bridges in the United States where there wasn't a may-day call and obviously, many vehicles went into the water.

MUNTEAN (voice over): Pete Muntean, CNN, Dundalk, Maryland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Baltimore's Fire Chief James Wallace says the rescuers are now up against several challenges.

Speaking to Eleni Giokos, he said the waters they are searching are deep and cold.

[16:05:03]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES WALLACE, BALTIMORE CITY FIRE CHIEF: The vessel, its presence, as well as the collapsed superstructure, the bridge itself, it does present a

challenge. It presents a challenge as we navigate on the surface, but more likely a greater challenges is subsurface and underwater as we put divers

in to begin to search.

This water, as you stated earlier, the water is frigid here right now. We do have a relatively strong wind and we also had this incident occurred

about two hours before high tide this morning.

So we have an evolving and changing tide. All of those factors in addition to, we believe this to be about a 60-foot dive, makes this an

extraordinarily difficult challenge for our team.

So above all else, we are trying to be very safe and very cautious with our divers, but we do main in search and rescue mode.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Brian Todd joins me.

Brian, where exactly are you? You're on the river I can see that. Tell me where you are and what you're seeing?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Richard, we've been able to maneuver to a fairly close point in the Baltimore Harbor, close to this tanker or the

Dali that's about a few hundred yards over here and you can see now the point of impact.

What we have unique here with this angle is with the sun hitting it now and the angle that were at, you can really see the point of impact where the

Dali slammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge there.

You can see the tangled metal, the concrete from the bridge support that also collapsed. You can also see that portion of the bridge stanchion, that

metal on the top there that is basically draped over the bough of this vessel.

This was, as you mentioned, a massive container ship, the Dali, about a little under a thousand feet long, about 140-feet wide, 116,000 tons and

with that kind of force, this gives you a really good visual of just the point of impact and the violence of force with which it struck the bridge.

You can also see some rescue vessels all around here. There have been helicopters flying, about 50 divers have been in and out of the water all

day long.

You mentioned the conditions, you had an official on a moment ago talking about the cold air and the cold water. The water is about 46 to 48 degrees

Fahrenheit; very, very dangerous conditions for a human to be in for more than maybe two hours, so anyone who did plunge into the water was in

extreme danger for that period of time.

As we swing over here, Richard, I am just going to show you kind of the other impact of this horrible accident. It is the economic impact. You can

see this vessel over here, that's the Carmen, that's a large container vessel that ships cars and light trucks into the Port of Baltimore, that's

basically stranded.

All major ship traffic is now completely halted into and out of Baltimore Harbor. You're talking possibly in the billions of dollars if this

stretches on for days and weeks, which is expected to, Richard.

Ship traffic has been completely diverted away from this harbor and again, you've got not only just businesses that depend on these goods coming in

and out, you've got hotels and restaurants in the city of Baltimore that depend on it as well.

All of that, Richard disrupted for days and possibly weeks.

QUEST: You see, that's one of the -- I mean, obviously those who have lost lives and injured are first in our minds. But on this second point, we are

a business program after all, they are not going to be able to easily open up the channel again, are they? Because looking at that picture behind you,

Brian, it is not like the ships can go around it will be safe for large ships to go under that little bit of the ship that is remaining.

The channel is right in the middle.

TODD: Exactly right, Richard.

And you can -- we will show it to you again. The channel is right in the middle. The bridge, the entire center part of the bridge is gone.

Everything that is in the water there, there is not enough of an opening there for any major vessel to come through.

Plus, there is a lot underwater that you cannot see, so it is going to take days and weeks just for them to get heavy equipment here to be able to

recover and kind of salvage some of this wreckage from the water. And once those large floating cranes get here, it is going to take them a while.

They have to chop up these fragments into smaller pieces in order to remove them. That's going to take days and weeks, too. So you're talking about

just a major disruption here, Richard.

We were told by the governor of Virginia not too long ago that some of the ship traffic, the ocean carriers are being diverted to the Port of

Virginia, which is in the Hampton Roads area, maybe about 70 or 80 miles south of here.

So they will be able to take in some of the ship traffic, but again, that's not going to alleviate a lot of this.

QUEST: Brian Todd on the water in Baltimore.

Brian, I am grateful to you. Thank you.

So now, if we look at the moments leading up to basically the collapse -- well, the hitting of the bridge and the collapse.

At 1:24 AM, you can see the lights on the ship starting to flicker.

[16:10:10]

About a minute later, the ship appears to change course and starts to head towards the bridge and look, you can see smoke coming out of the

smokestack, that's believed to be a sharp turn in the engines into reverse.

Authorities are holding the traffic now on both sides of the bridge and the crash is imminent.

This is the way the bridge looked before. Remember what Brian Todd was saying about that central point, the collision point at one of the

structures right at the support column. And this is really all that's left of it, which of course is far too small for any form of transportation.

The ships have to go right the way through the middle at the highest point, and that is going to be a major task to undo that.

John McCown is the nonresident senior fellow at the Center for Maritime Strategy. He is joining me now from Spain.

Good evening, sir.

JOHN MCCOWN, NONRESIDENT SENIOR FELLOW, CENTER FOR MARITIME STRATEGY: Hi, Richard. Pleased to join you.

QUEST: So, the ship loses power. There is never a good time for a ship to lose power, but arguably, this was quintessentially the worst time for it

to lose power and/or control over navigation.

MCCOWN: Richard, you're totally right. That is absolutely the worst time when you're navigating in closed spaces like that.

When I saw that video, my heart sunk. I have been over that bridge hundreds of times. My daughter went to college in Baltimore, so I know the bridge

well and as long as that I am sure the first order of business is to bring in some salvage experts and get that out of the way as quick as possible

because the economic numbers are big.

The good news is there are other ports. Baltimore is only three percent of the inbound containers to the US, and there are other ports on the East

Coast that I believe should be able to take that business up quickly, but that doesn't mean that the economic hit to Baltimore can be meaningful.

QUEST: It sounds as if -- I mean, obviously, the investigation will focus on why power failed or navigation failed, but it does sound and once it had

happened bearing in mind -- well, the ship -- they did all they could. They had a may-day call, they go, they throw the engines into reverse, you can

see that.

They then drop the anchor. There is not -- I don't know. I am not a maritime, I am an aviation man. You're the maritime man. Is there anything

they could have or more that they should have done?

MCCOWN: Well, I think first, it seems like there were a lot of heroes that -- you know, people that saw what was happening and stopped people from

going over, and so we should all be glad for that.

I think this will clearly have a detailed investigation by the Coast Guard. They are great at doing things like this, and I think, I can't speculate on

what they could have done, but I think the Coast Guard investigation, which will go into details will tell us everything that happened, and the good

news is they will also say what can be done.

I think there was a news report also that said that the National Transportation Safety Board is going to be involved.

Their focus is always on -- this is what happened, what can we do better?

So, I think that is all welcome.

QUEST: We heard from the NTSB earlier. Yes, we did hear from the Chair of the NTSB and they will be leading, and a Memorandum of Understanding

between the Coast Guard and the NTSB. Their specialty is this, so they will be leading the investigation into it.

But getting Baltimore Port -- let me just read you: The Transportation Secretary Peter Buttigieg said, "The road to recovery will not be quick and

it will certainly be costly, but we will rebuild," he says. "This is no ordinary bridge. It has been part of the skyline of the region. So the path

to normalcy will not be easy."

And indeed, when do they start doing that?

MCCOWN: Well, certainly the rebuilding of the bridge, I think you're talking about years, but I think from a maritime standpoint, the focus is

going to be on getting some salvage professionals in and removing enough the collapsed bridge so vessels can move in and out, because I think that

would be Baltimore's focus.

As I mentioned, I think if you look at the value of the cargo and containers moving over Baltimore each year, it is a big number. Its $35

billion, it is $96 million a day. It is big number.

The good news is, it is only three percent of the inbound containers and the other big ports on the East Coast have capacity.

[16:15:00]

You know, as we speak, cargo is being rerouted. Shippers are saying that load that was going to Baltimore, drop it off in Charleston or in Norfolk

or New York, those three ports combined have -- you know, are moving in like 12 times as much cargo.

So the system will be able to adapt. That doesn't mean there is not going to be a pretty big hit to Baltimore because until the bridge is rebuilt,

there is going to be more of a traffic jam and it is going to be a mess for them.

QUEST: Thank you, sir. I'm grateful. I appreciate it.

MCCOWN: Thank you.

QUEST: Donald Trump is back on Wall Street. His media company floated on the stock market. It is already making waves. We will have that story for

you next.

QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. Good evening to you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Donald Trump has been hit with a gag order by the New York judge who is overseeing his trial that is related to the hush money payments. The

order limits what Trump can say in public about potential witnesses. It disallows him from speaking about attorneys, court staff, or their families

while exception is the New York District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, who is a public official.

In his order, Judge Juan Merchan said, he reviewed Trump's comments in other court cases, called them threatening and inflammatory.

Kara Scannell is in New York.

I am well and truly confused at the number of gag orders in the different cases that Donald Trump has now had.

So where does this one fit into it?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so this is the latest one, and in this ruling, in this decision in granting the prosecutor's requests for a

gag order, Judge Juan Merchan looked at some of the other ones that were instituted, specifically, the one in the federal election interference case

in DC. That gag order was challenged, it was upheld, and the judge is framing his along the same lines, essentially saying that Trump can't make

any comments about potential witnesses in this case.

He can't make any comments about court staff, the family members of the court staff, attorneys in this case, as you said, except for the district

attorney, Alvin Bragg, he is not covered by the gag order, but trying to cut down on the statements Trump has made.

The judge so that he had looked at other statements Trump has made in these other cases, including in this one which resulted in an increase in threats

against the District Attorney's Office. They have had two letters containing a white powdery substance that was deemed to be non-threatening,

but it did cause the attorney District Attorney's Office to see an increased level in threats.

[16:20:04]

The judge saying that now that we are on the eve of trial, he thinks that this potential threat as he said, the imminency of the risk of harm is now

paramount, and so he is restricting what Donald Trump can say and restricting what Donald Trump can ask others to say.

This gag order covers not only Trump, but him directing others to do it. Now, in addition to all of those people, the judge is also focusing on the

jurors saying that Trump cannot make any comments about potential jurors in this case or the specific ones that are selected when jury selection begins

on April 15th.

QUEST: I mean, the more I hear about what is going to happen, justice must be done and justice must be seen to be done, but this is going to turn into

a circus or has have every potential for being a circus.

SCANNELL: No doubt. No doubt at all.

QUEST: You'll be had to watch it and bring us all of it. Thank you very much.

The parent company of Truth Social, Trump Media and Technology Group has skyrocketed. Well, it did when it debuted, it went up by 56 percent in the

first few moment. It is 78. It is not tethered to any form of reality say the experts, because the underlying business does not appear to be worth

very much.

Now, just up 16 percent, Paul La Monica is the senior market analyst writer for Barron's.

Paul is with me now.

What is -- even a gain, Paul of 16 percent, what is propping up this share?

PAUL R. LA MONICA, SENIOR MARKET ANALYST WRITER, BARRON'S: Yes, I think it is a combination, Richard, of short sellers getting squeezed by very

fervent retail investors who align themselves politically with the former president. I think that is very much a part of this story.

It is hard to imagine how that Trump Media and Technology Group can continue this type of rally even with the president potentially pushing the

stock, promoting the stock just because the fundamentals aren't very good.

This is a company that's losing money, revenue is tiny. They pale in comparison to Elon Musk's X, which has also increasingly become an area

where conservative voices have their way and say also, so it is not as much the case that Truth Social is this, you know, bastion of conservative

voices against the liberal Twitter, because X is no longer, I think viewed as being a liberal media haven.

QUEST: So assuming nothing much happens. I mean, in a sends, there is no -- unless it gets more revenues, then the valuation of the company remains

just what? The business of Donald Trump?

LA MONICA: Yes, I think that this, as someone I spoke to kind of like a call option on your expectation that Trump could get re-elected in November

and I don't think that any investor that understands how businesses are valued can look at Trump Media Technology Group and say, yes, this is a

fantastic business that is growing and is profitable because it just isn't.

And then obviously, they face massive competition, not just from X, but clearly from Meta, with Facebook and Instagram, from TikTok. There are so

many other social media outlets out there.

QUEST: So Donald Trump can't -- I am just looking to see the exact number of how much he owns. It is a very high percentage that he owns, in the 70s.

LA MONICA: Yes, over 58 percent.

QUEST: So how much?

LA MONICA: Over 58 percent of the company.

QUEST: Fifty-eight percent, but he is locked in. He is locked in for many months, unless the board release him.

LA MONICA: Right. He is locked in for six months. He could possibly get the board to release him, but you do have to wonder, Richard, selling a massive

amount of stock would dilute the value for the existing shareholders who many of whom have been buying them because they support Donald Trump.

So, it wouldn't necessarily be a good move to punish the people that are supporting you, and there might be less of a need for Trump to sell stock

going forward based on the legal victories that he had yesterday.

QUEST: I mean, it is an extraordinary situation, this IPO for a company that has --

LA MONICA: Yes, we really haven't seen anything like it.

QUEST: It has no economic reality, not that that matters. I mean, there would be many stocks that have gone on onto the market that have a fiction

of economic reality, but bearing in mind that wider picture as you set it, it is an extraordinary development.

LA MONICA: Yes it is meme stocks married with partisan politics and it is crazy mix.

[16:25:03]

QUEST: All right, we will follow the stock price as we go. Thank you very much.

A majority of US Supreme Court justices appeared to be skeptical about imposing a nationwide ban or new limits on a widely used abortion pill.

Now, the court heard arguments in its first abortion rights case since it overturned Roe v. Wade back in 2022. This case centers on the drug's

regulation by the FDA.

Our justice correspondent, Jessica Schneider is with me.

Even the conservatives except -- except -- Alito, an arguably the extreme conservative are more conservative, but even the conservatives to the

center were all skeptical at the idea of widening this so that it becomes a judgment day on the FDA's ability to interfere.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and essentially Richard, they really could toss this case on those standing grounds. That was the

first issue that they had to address, this issue that the doctors who brought this case maybe didn't have the standing or the legal right to

actually bring this lawsuit.

That's because the basis of the doctors' argument is that they might at some point have to treat a woman who comes to their emergency room,

potentially with complications from this mifepristone abortion pill and that these doctors might have to treat that woman even though they disagree

with abortion, so that was the doctors' arguments.

The government and drug manufacturer, they argued, look, the type of injury the doctors are putting forward is just far too removed, far too

hypothetical to really prove the basis of a lawsuit and a majority of the justices seemed to agree with that.

The lower courts though disagree. They let this lawsuit move forward. They said the doctors had standing and they even ruled in favor of the doctors.

They said that they should block certain aspects of mifepristone, making it harder to obtain, although that ruling has been on hold. So it does seem

from the arguments, 90 minutes we saw today that these justices might get rid of this case and not even get to a heart of this issue, which is did

the FDA follow the proper procedure when it made this abortion pill easier to obtain.

Here though was Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and she worked to make the point that look, doctors don't really suffer an injury. They could simply

refrain from treating patients they don't agree with other than courts taking this drastic step. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KETANJI BROWN JACKSON, US SUPREME COURT JUSTICE: Assuming we have a world in which they can actually lodge the objections that you say that they

have, my question is, isn't that enough to remedy their issue? Do we have to also entertain your argument that no one else in the world can have this

drug or no one else in America should have this drug in order to protect you clients?

ERIN M. HAWLEY, REPRESENTING ALLIANCE DEFENDING FREEDOM: So again, Your Honor, it is not possible. Given the emergency nature of these situations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: One of the point that I've gotten -- I noticed from some of the questioning of I think it was Neil Gorsuch, Justice Gorsuch, who basically

said he went back and looked for sorts of orders that the original judge did that covered the whole country.

He said, there were none of them in FDR's time, over 12 years, not one. And as he said, this was a major -- but he says there have been 60 this year,

in the last 12 months, and that these orders were now out-of-control.

SCHNEIDER: Yes, I mean, this is a persistent problem. We are seeing individual judges in various districts around the country issue these

nationwide injunctions and particularly in this case, there were a lot of accusations of forum shopping, judge shopping, because when these doctors

filed this lawsuit two years ago in 2022, they've filed it specifically in a federal court in Texas, where they knew the only judge who would get this

case was a staunch conservative who had previously spoken out very forcefully against abortion.

So they knew they would probably have a winner in choosing that particular court with that particular judge. So yes, that was something that the

Justice Neil Gorsuch said, we need to be careful here that this lawsuit where these doctors might not even have the legal standing to bring,

somehow it had the potential to affect the whole country.

Of course, the ruling has been put on hold, so everything is status quo with this abortion pill right now. But yes, we heard even from a justice

conservative justice like Neil Gorsuch, saying we need to kind of pump the brakes on this and not maybe issue a ruling that is going to affect the

entire country, women all over the entire country, when only a handful of doctors say maybe might we will have a problem, maybe, who knows?

QUEST: Thank you. Thank you for being in court today and bringing it to us. I appreciate it.

The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore is already upending certain US supply chains. The Transportation Secretary, Pete

Buttigieg is saying that it will have a major effect on supply chains.

We will talk to the head of the International Chambers Shipping's Guy Platten after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:33:33]

QUEST: Returning to our top story, the bridge in the state of Maryland that collapsed after it was struck by the Dali, a massive thousand-foot cargo

ship stuffed to the gills, as you can see on this, as it hit the bridge. It was on its way to Sri Lanka. It had gone through the Panama Canal. It had

been in Norfolk, Virginia. It had gone up to New York and then it was chartered by the giant shipping Maersk.

It struck the bridge right around 1:30 in the morning, Baltimore. There was an early rarely report that the ship had a momentary loss of propulsion.

Kristin Fisher is standing by, and we've seen it from the water, now we're seeing it behind you. And it's pretty dramatic whichever way we look at it.

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It really is and, you know, it almost takes being out here to fully appreciate the true scope and size of just

how big this bridge is and how it's just not even remotely standing anymore. And what we're learning is that, you know, this has been 12 plus

hours since this happened. And this is still very much an active search and rescue operation.

Richard, they are still looking for these six individuals who are believed to have fallen into the water when that container ship struck the Key

Bridge and, you know, the clock is ticking because this has been very cold water. You've had divers in there all day. There have been helicopters up

in the air.

[16:35:02]

But the NTSB said they are not going to comment on the status of whether or not any of those people have been found. They're going to be leaving that

to the Coast Guard, even though the NTSB is taking the lead on this investigation.

And just to give you a sense of how much of a priority it is, the search and rescue side of things right now, the NTSB says they haven't even

boarded the vessel yet, something that they would normally do quite quickly after an incident like this. Instead, they are taking a step back and just

allowing the Coast Guard to do their job and try to find these six missing people as fast as possible.

Richard, the other thing that's really become clear over the last few hours is just how critical that mayday call was from the crew of the Dali itself.

Getting word to officials up on the bridge that they needed to stop traffic, that there was some kind of problem. The crew described it as a

power problem on board the ship, and officials up on the bridge were able to stop traffic. The governor, NTSB officials all saying that that move

right there likely saved countless lives.

But of course they weren't able to get that news to the construction crew quick enough who was on this bridge, Richard, just preparing potholes so

that is still what the focus continues to be at this hour.

QUEST: Thank you very much.

The U.S. Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg says the collapse will have major and protracted impact on supply chains. It's too soon he says to

estimate when the Port of Baltimore will reopen. Maersk says it's emitting Baltimore on all its services until the area is deemed safe. Carmakers like

Ford and General Motors say they'll have to reroute vehicle shipments.

This particular port was a significant one for car shipments as President Biden address the economic importance this way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Port of Baltimore is one of the nation's largest shipping hubs. And I've been there a number of times

with a senator and the vice president. It handles a record amount of cargo last year. It's also the top port in America, both imports and exports of

automobiles and light trucks. Around 850,000 vehicles go through that port every single year. And we're going to get it up and running again as soon

as possible. 15,000 jobs depend on that port. And were going to do everything we can to protect those jobs and help those workers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Now, Guy Platten is the secretary general of the International Chamber of Shipping. He joins me now from London, also in London.

And Guy Platten, the ability to reroute to the other major ports once we get some clarity, Norfolk, Virginia, New York, Philadelphia even, how easy

will it be?

GUY PLATTEN, SECRETARY GENERAL, INTERNATIONAL CHAMBER OF SHIPPING: I just first want to say we all as an industry our thoughts are with the people

affected by this tragedy. And, you know, let's, you know, all credit to the rescue services for doing all they can do to try and rescue and recover the

situation. But, yes, in terms of your question, I mean, shipping is by nature they're transient. They can move to other ports and we know that's

happening already. Of course, it's going to be sometime I suspect before Baltimore is reopened again.

QUEST: Now, of course, there are ships that would have been in port at the time, they will not be going anywhere anytime soon.

PLATTEN: No, they won't. I mean, I don't know how many ships are in Baltimore at the moment, but clearly at the moment, Baltimore is closed for

business other than what's already inside the port already. But it is, you know, a question of rerouting around, and supply chains are quite resilient

that way. I mean, this is a tragedy that's happened. We'll obviously wait for the full investigation to find exactly what happened, what went wrong,

but these incidents are incredibly rare as I'm sure you well know. But we must learn and find out what's exactly happened in this occasion.

QUEST: I mean, there's never a good time to lose par. This seems to have been a remarkably bad time. The thing had just left port and was heading

out towards but it was got the bridge. And I'm sure your members are all saying to each other, but for the grace of God, go I, in the sense of these

are vast ships carrying humongous amounts of cargo.

PLATTEN: Yes, these, these are a big ships. They are approved by highly professional people. There were pilots on board the ship at the time. We

don't know exactly what happened. It does appear from the pictures I've seen that perhaps power was lost at some point. But we really need to have

the investigation now to find exactly what went wrong. I mean, there's device symbol like a voice data recorders, not a black box type things.

So we'll be able to get a true record of exactly what happened that evening and that's the subject of the investigation. But these are incredibly rare

events. We are a highly regulated industry.

[16:40:01]

Safety is paramount, but that doesn't detract from the absolute tragedy that's happened and the loss of life and the families that are affected. So

we have to learn, but we have to be -- it's too early to say exactly what went right.

QUEST: Right. What this tragedy does, though, is remind us of the significance of shipping.

PLATTEN: Yes.

QUEST: And for those of us sort of land lovers that don't see ships from one year's end to the next. I mean, let's think about the examples. You

know, you obviously have the Red Sea at the moment, which is causing all sorts of (INAUDIBLE). We have the problems in the Suez Canal when a ship

got stuck and immediately there was ramifications. You've got problems at post-pandemic with supply chains and the simple lack of availability of

containers and space on ships.

So I'm not saying, I'm not saying that this will have anything like a dramatic effect on global supply, but it does remind us of the significance

of it.

PLATTEN: You're absolutely right. I mean, shipping is vitally important. It transports 90 percent of goods around the world. You know, the clothes that

we wear, the electronic goods that we use are all at some point had a journey on a ship. And you're right, I mean, this is a -- in terms of its

one port amongst many, many ports, but things like the Red Sea, when we see what, you know, significant -- 80 percent of container ships now routing

around the Cape of Good Hope, adding two couple of weeks onto the journey time. We saw what happened there. Actually it's almost three years to the

day that the Ever Given run aground in the Suez Canal and the massive disruptions there.

We're seeing the effects of climate change in the Panama Canal with restricting the number of ships. So these do -- these events do highlight

just how important shipping is to world trade and how much we depend on it. And you're getting into -- and you're right, it does raise the knowledge of

it, but, you know, it's something that we know we obviously -- you know, it's not just (INAUDIBLE), we've also got this secure things like the Gulf

of Guinea, what's happening there. So it's all these things do point to how vulnerable we are to shocks like this in the supply chain.

QUEST: I'm very grateful, sir. Thank you. We needed to hear that tonight.

PLATTEN: Thank you.

QUEST: Thank you, sir.

And let me just remind you before I leave you. The shares in Donald Trump's Truth Social closed 16 percent higher. They were well off the highs of the

day. And the major indices all showing there were the falls in the last half hour of trading. They all just off a tad when all was said and done.

And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for the moment. I'm Richard Quest in London. Wherever you're up to in the hours ahead I hope it's profitable.

Don't go anywhere. "WORLD OF WONDER" in Geneva is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:45:46]

QUEST (voice-over): To truly understand Switzerland, I have to know about mountains and the role they play in the culture of this country. The people

who are proud of this awe-inspiring nature, and the beauty that can't be found anywhere else in the world. To experience it, I must be properly

prepared.

So what do I need?

MARKUS KEHL, HOFMANNER SPORTS: You need boots.

QUEST: Yes.

KEHL: Skis and poles. but you need proper boots. Not these ones.

QUEST: No. No. These are the ones. You don't want to get rid me of my boots. These are expensive.

KEHL: Not the right ones to do cross-country skiing.

QUEST: It's all about skating movement, isn't it?

KEHL: Exactly.

QUEST: Where you sort of gently have to forget about what you're doing and just let it all happen.

KEHL: Exactly. Yes. Yes. Have a Vienna waltz in your head.

QUEST (voice-over): Ah, Vienna waltzes, huh? That brings back memories.

KEHL: You'd be all right. All right?

QUEST: Absolutely. We're doing this. I thought it was going to be straightforward, you know, snow. I can feel a distinct bit of envy coming

across here. I can feel you -- you know, craftsman. You want to do it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know want to swap sports? You film me, I'll go skiing.

QUEST: You really would like to be doing this, wouldn't you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Of course.

QUEST (voice-over): Why am I not surprised?

Well, I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to the expertise of learning how to do it properly, but to be honest, it's not going to be

easy.

What are you going to be doing while I'm doing this, by the way? And how are you going to keep up with us? Because we will be blazing along, and

you'll be there huffing and puffing like an old man. That's all.

(Voice-over): I have a very special teacher lined up. The Swiss legend and multiple Olympic medal winner, Dario Cologna.

Why did you start with cross-country skiing?

DARIO COLOGNA, 4-TIME OLYMPIC GOLD WINNER: I tried a lot of sports as a child. A lot of our tribe they grew up in a small rally close to the rows,

and we go outside in winter and I like cross-country. It's a great sport. And you can go out and move and have fun in the snow here.

QUEST: Right. I've never done it. Can I do it?

COLOGNA: I hope so, yes. Yes. Some experience maybe with alpine skiing?

QUEST: Yes. But really bad.

COLOGNA: Bad, huh? For sure it's the most important after the balance from the skis.

QUEST: All right, let's start then.

COLOGNA: Let's start then, yes. We put the skis first in the show.

QUEST (voice-over): There are two forms of cross-country skiing. The classic, in which you position you and your skis in tracks. And the rather

more challenging skating style.

COLOGNA: The goal is to be -- to glide with the ski. Always put your weight on one ski when you glide.

QUEST: All right.

COLOGNA: Like ice skating.

QUEST: So your poles never go forward than your feet.

COLOGNA: Yes. Push and glide. Push and glide.

QUEST: Push and glide. Push and glide. Push and glide. Push and glide. Push and glide. Push and glide.

Progress, like anything, it's going to take a few hours just to get used to the idea. This is lovely. I'm enjoying myself. Left, right. Left. Can you

remember a race where you thought, I've just got to dig deeper?

COLOGNA: Yes. Usually it's like on the bigger races like the Olympics, and you feel that you are fighting for a medal or for a gold medal, you can go

even deeper.

[16:50:09]

QUEST: And you can.

COLOGNA: Yes.

QUEST: So it's left, right, left, right, left, right. Feet will be hurting tomorrow.

COLOGNA: Probably yes.

QUEST: Feet will be sore.

(Voice-over): Frustratingly craftsman cam isn't too bad on the snowboard. Actually that's an understatement. He's very good. Just Dario is an

inspiration.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Back in (INAUDIBLE), and if I listen carefully, I hear familiar sounds. They're coming from this beautiful church. The church is a beauty

in its own right. But sitting inside is anything other than the most extraordinary musician.

Why did you start?

KURT HOSTETTLER, ENTERTAINER: This music goes in my heart so I play a little bit and play together with people. I can look, they're coming --

QUEST: Tears.

HOSTETTLER: Drain and this a good idea.

QUEST (voice-over): Kurt is the master of many instruments. There was one instrument, two spoons if you want to be pedantic. Here, I knew I might

just be able to make a half decent sound. And then there's the granddaddy of them all. The Alpine horn. I will consider it a triumph if I can get any

sort of noise out of this monster. Just when I thought things couldn't get any more humiliating, this woman entered my life.

Why did they yodel to start with?

DOMINIQUE BOLT, YODELER: It's not really clear. Some say that's to communicate between the mountains. Others say, oh, that's just because of

the echo.

QUEST: Echo.

BOLT: Right. Right. Just two hear it, that was fun to hear, and so there are different theories how that started.

QUEST: Now you're going to show me how?

BOLT: OK.

QUEST: OK.

BOLT: Yodeling, you have to understand yodeling is not kind of nice singing. It's kind of harsh singing. It's traditional, it's natural, it's

not -- you don't try to sing very nice.

QUEST: Clearly.

(LAUGHTER)

QUEST: I should be very successful at that. Right. Here we go. And --

BOLT: Just to start with the yo. You take this, yo, and then you let falling.

[16:55:02]

Very good. And then you hear a little clock. That means yodeling. OK. Now, please for yodeling, you have to have a good stance. You can do it. With

the little kids I do it with boxing where I could, right, and now down, it's the same thing. OK. Now.

QUEST: It's impossible.

BOLT: It's not impossible. You did a great job. Now you have to try to think something.

QUEST: What am I singing?

BOLT: Yes. You're doing a great job. You're going to learn it someday, I'm sure.

QUEST (voice-over): You know that phrase about it isn't over the lady sings, well, there's a lot of singing going on here, and this isn't going

to be the only high note that we finish on.

I think that it's time. There is unfinished business back in Geneva. Remember that dreadful weather that prevented me from switching on the Jet

d'Eau? The weather has improved. And the guardians of the lake have said, Quest, you can switch on the world's largest bidet.

I think I feel like I should. Yes. This is great. I declared the Geneva Jet d'Eau on. Look.

(Voice-over): Success. The fountain burst into life and, phew, on time.

Time to wind the watch.

COLOGNA: Richard, wind it at least 30 times.

QUEST: Indeed. Swiss timing, Swiss chocolate, Swiss views. There is a superbness to Switzerland that is born out of centuries of organization and

civilization. And you'll want to come here and experience this magnificence for yourself. Geneva in superb Switzerland. Part of our "WORLD OF WONDER."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END