By Shariq Khan
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Colonial Pipeline Company on Tuesday paused nominations to ship fuel on cycles 15 and 16 on Line 32, which delivers products to its Curtis Bay facility in the port of Baltimore, according to a notice seen by Reuters.
To move refined products on the 5,500-mile Colonial system, shippers submit nominations, or requests for space they want. A freeze on nominations indicates that the requests exceed capacity, and the pipeline will begin allocating the space to shippers over the coming days.
The freeze comes after the Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest in the United States, was forced shut due to a ship knocking down large sections of the Francis Scott Key Bridge earlier on Tuesday.
With the port shut, Baltimore's fuel market is likely to increase its reliance on Colonial shipments, said Charles Bonner, director at maritime and commodity data firm Marhelm.
Colonial delivers refined products including gasoline and diesel from the U.S. Gulf Coast to markets across the East Coast.