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The Port of Baltimore
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March/April 201 2
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More containers mean more work and more
stability for the Port labor force.”
Hapag-Lloyd and the Port of Baltimore
share a long history. Germany’s largest
shipping company is the union of two fierce
competitors from the days of sail and steam.
Hamburg-based Hapag and Bremen-based
Lloyd both had service to Baltimore. In 1868,
the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad partnered
with Lloyd to begin a fortnightly service
direct from Bremen to Baltimore on two new
ships, the
Leipzig
and
Ohio
. Those ships
carried approximately 355 tons of cargo and
up to 570 passengers on their way to begin
a new life. By 1906, both Hapag and Lloyd
ships were calling Baltimore weekly.
In 1970, Hapag and Lloyd merged.
Today, Hapag-Lloyd, the world’s fifth-largest
container line, operates a fleet of 140 state-
of-the-art container ships that moved
almost 5 million containers (TEU) last
year. The company offers 80 liner services
serving every continent.
Governor O’Malley credits the Port’s
public-private partnership with stevedore
Ports America Chesapeake for attracting
the new business. Seagirt Marine Terminal,
the Port’s primary container facility, is being
developed into one of the most efficient
and competitive terminals on the East
Coast. Ports America Chesapeake recently
completed work on a 50-foot berth that will
accommodate new traffic from the expanded
Panama Canal, and is awaiting delivery in
May of new cargo-handling cranes. “Just two
years ago, we broke ground on the Port’s
new 50-foot container berth to capture
the new business from the Panama Canal
Celebrating the announcement of Hapag-Lloyd’s new weekly service to Baltimore were, from left,
Maryland Port Administration Executive Director James J. White, Maryland Secretary of Transportation
Beverley K. Swaim-Staley, Hapag-Lloyd Southern Vice President Stuart Rattray, Ports America
Chesapeake Chairman Christopher Lee and U.S. Rep. C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger.