Page 28 - Port of Baltimroe Magazine - Jan Feb 2012
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The Port of Baltimore
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January/February 2012
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“We are very focused on making improve-
ments to both passenger and freight rail
systems — the intermodal project is our
top freight rail priority,” said Dominic Wiker,
MDOT Project Manager for the Baltimore-
Washington Rail Intermodal Facility.
Currently, the Port is the 13th largest in
the nation for handling containers, averaging
37 to 38 container moves per hour. Industry
leaders Evergreen and Mediterranean
Shipping Company are keeping Baltimore
will utilize the expanded Panama Canal and
emerging Suez Canal. With the partnerships
the Port of Baltimore has formed with Ports
America Chesapeake [MPA’s partner in the
Seagirt project] and CSX, we are positioned
very well to take advantage of these shifting
dynamics. Waterside improvements are
a huge piece of the puzzle, and we find
ourselves very close to the completion of
the Seagirt 50-foot Berth 4 project. But
the ability to reach discretionary markets
efficiently and cost effectively, via high-cube
double-stack rail, is equally as important
as ocean carriers. That is where the CSX
National Gateway project comes into play
and why it is so important to the Port of
Baltimore.”
The new facility will only handle
containers, not bulk or Roll-On/Roll-Off (RO/
RO) cargo.
The current ICTF is located on 60 acres
at Seagirt, and Wiker noted that about 10
percent of the containers handled there
come through the Port; the vast majority
of containers are domestic cargo arriving
by truck or train. But trains that leave there
must go through the Howard Street tunnel.
When the Baltimore-Washington Rail
Intermodal Facility is built, single-stack
trains will continue to ferry containers that
arrive on ships from Seagirt to the new
facility. But the new facility will significantly
reduce the amount of land needed at Seagirt
for intermodal operations.
“There will be a rail connection between
Seagirt and the new intermodal facility, but
it won’t be as big as the intermodal transfer
facility is now,” said Wiker. “That will give
the Port flexibility for direct port uses for
that land.” He added that the double-stack
intermodal facility, combined with the
new 50-foot berth, should provide a huge
opportunity for the Port.
Greco agrees. “The ability to offer high-
cube double-stack rail out of Baltimore
will put us on an equal playing field with
competing ports,” he said. “The size and
strength of our consumer market, the new
50-foot berth with no air draft restrictions,
and the future ability to offer expanded
intermodal rail capabilities is getting the
attention of several major shipping lines.”
CSX officials expect that a new,
state-of-the-art ICTF would generate
significant economic, environmental and
transportation infrastructure benefits.
According to Christopher B. Smith, CSX’s
Getting
the Goods on the
NATIONAL
GATEWAY
PROJECT
busy like never before, and the new 50-foot
berth will have the capacity to serve vessels
on which containers are stacked 22 rows
across the ship.
“The dynamics of container shipping
on the U.S East Coast is in the midst of a
period of transition,” said Joseph M. Greco,
Sr., Maryland Port Administration (MPA)
Deputy Director, Marketing. “Ports are
racing to position themselves to handle the
larger container vessels of the future that
Working toward more efficient rail service between
Mid-Atlantic ports and the Midwestern market, the National Gateway
project aims to create a network of tracks with 21 feet of vertical
clearance that can handle double-stack trains.
The project involves modifying tunnel linings, lowering tracks, and
upgrading or replacing bridges, tracks and signals. It’s expected to cost
$842 million, including $395 million in private funds.
Considering that trains can move one ton of freight nearly 500 miles
on a single gallon of fuel, the project should result in large-scale fuel
savings and the elimination of millions of tons of carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere. Other benefits include improved safety, reduced highway
maintenance costs and lessened traffic congestion.
The National Gateway project is part of a public-private partnership
between CSX and the states of Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West
Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina, as well as Washington, D.C.
Speaking at a Baltimore Port Alliance meeting last spring,
Leif Dormsjo, Senior Advisor, Maryland Department of Transportation,
noted that Maryland could be shut off from certain markets if it
doesn’t have “an on-ramp to the double-stack market.” He added,
“We don’t want Maryland to be a pass-through state.”
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