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and there are those in Maryland’s maritime community of the
persuasion that Baltimore received the short end of that stick —
Norfolk Southern has proven a willing business partner in many
port cities, while Baltimore’s container traffic remains curtailed by
tunnel heights on CSX tracks, which constrains double-stacking.
Baltimore’s primary container handling facility is Seagirt Marine
Terminal, situated between Canton and Dundalk. Built on landfill
deposits taken from the 1985 excavation of the Fort McHenry
Tunnel, Seagirt’s mammoth 125-ton cranes are guided by global
positioning system satellite data to perform delicate container
“lifts.” Baltimore is the national leader in the average number of
lifts per hour, a statistic that serves as a key industry measure of
port efficiency, and helps market Baltimore.
There were other contentious issues threatening to destabilize
the Port’s commerce during the 1980s. Dredging consumed much of
Facing page: TheWestern
Maryland Railroad was a
good and true partner to the
Port before being absorbed
into CSX. Above, left: Norfolk
Southern often runs unit trains
(carrying one commodity),
delivering farm equipment
from the Midwest to Baltimore
over a weekend. Above,
right: A crane operator’s view
looking down on a ship.
the maritime community’s energy: 1986 federal legislation changed
the funding rules for routine — and highly costly — channel main-
tenance, and the channel up the Chesapeake, at approximately
150 miles, is the longest in America.
Under the new regimen, ports now were forced to share the
costs with the federal government: Baltimore’s share was 35
percent. And disposing of dredged material became more
problematic. Environmental regulations specify placement of all
dredged material, and Hart-Miller Island, the containment area
for materials the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers excavates for the
Port, is already at near capacity.
The Maryland Port Commission — six gubernatorial appoin-
tees serving three-year terms, chaired by Maryland’s Secretary of
Transportation — was created in 1988 to oversee the Maryland
Port Administration.
