Port Development Accelerates
Maryland Port Administration BUILDING ON CENTURIES OF SERVING SHIPPERS Some ports measure their history in decades. The Port of Baltimore, which is managed by the Maryland Port Administration, can look back centuries. It started in the 17th century as an access point for Maryland’s tobacco trade with England. It was designated a port of entry by the General Assembly in 1706. In the decades since, the port has continued to grow. In 2022, it handled a record $74.3 billion worth of foreign cargo. To ensure it can continue to serve shippers for centuries to come, the Port of Baltimore continues to invest in its infrastructure and operations. Among the most significant projects are these: • The Howard Street Tunnel (HST) Project. This project will improve vertical clearance along CSX’s I-95 Rail Corridor, enabling double-stack trains to travel between Baltimore City, Maryland, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and providing the East Coast with seamless double-stack capacity from Maine to Florida, as well as the ability to send double-stacked containers by rail into the Ohio Valley and on to Chicago.
The Howard Street Tunnel, a 1.7-mile-long railroad passage under the heart of Baltimore City, was constructed in 1895. Its vertical clearance is up to 18 inches less than the 21 feet necessary for double-stack trains, making it one obstacle restricting the ability of these trains to move along this section of the CSX network. The HST Project, which is underway and slated for completion in 2026, will eliminate the remaining double-stack obstructions in Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania between Baltimore City and Philadelphia. It’s expected to increase the port’s business by about 160,000 containers annually, generating about 6,550 construction jobs and an additional 7,300 jobs from increased business. • Mid-Chesapeake Bay Restoration Project. To maintain the depths and widths needed for safe navigation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers annually dredges nearly 5 million cubic yards of material from the channels and anchorages serving the Port of Baltimore. Once the material is removed, it needs to be contained or disposed of in an environmentally conscious manner. This project will reuse dredged
material to help rebuild James and Barren islands, restore coastal shorelines, and provide a long-term placement site for dredged material. It also will restore 2,072 acres of lost remote island habitat on James Island and 72 acres of remote island habitat on Barren Island. • Rail Capacity Modernization Project. This project will reconstruct and update the Seagirt Marine Terminal’s intermodal rail yard infrastructure to support increased demand for double- stacked trains of containerized cargo. Along with providing more seamless and efficient rail operations, these updates will improve air quality around the port by increasing rail usage and converting existing diesel-fueled rail yard operation to electrified equipment. Additional rail usage will also help alleviate ongoing logistical bottlenecks on major interstate highways. Scheduled for completion in 2025, the project includes the building of four new rail tracks totaling 17,670 track feet, as well as two crane rail beams totaling 7,000 linear feet within the Seagirt Terminal. • Refurbishing Roll On/Roll Off Berths . The Port of Baltimore is refurbishing its roll on/roll off (Ro/ Ro) berths to better accommodate today’s larger and heavier pieces of Ro/Ro equipment, like farm and construction machinery. “Baltimore handles more of this cargo than any other U.S. port,” says spokesperson Richard Scher. In 2022, the Port of Baltimore handled a record- setting 765,019 tons of imported Ro/ Ro cargo, besting its previous record of 603,516 tons in 2019. This is part of a larger berth reconstruction plan to address the impact of predicted climate change by including storm drain improvements and the construction of a sea curb, or short seawall that protects against sea level rise and storm surge, at the Dundalk Marine Terminal, and eventually, at each newly reconstructed berth. Dundalk will be the first terminal in the nation with this arrangement. n
The Port of Baltimore handles the majority of the East Coast market’s share of roll on/ roll off (Ro/Ro) cargo annually. The port is refurbishing its Ro/Ro berths to better accommodate today’s larger and heavier pieces of Ro/Ro equipment.
48 Inbound Logistics • August 2023
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