Page 8 - Port of Baltimore - Issue 4 - 2024

PORT MESSAGES MDOT
Howard Street Tunnel Project Hits Important Milestone
This is an exciting time for the Port of Baltimore as it charts a course forward towards growth and solidifies itself as the Port For Our Nation. Part of
the CSX Howard Street Tunnel Project finished a year early, allowing for double-stacked containers to leave the Seagirt Marine Terminal for the first time. This immediately doubles the number of containers that can move in and out of the Port by rail, helping to spur economic growth for the Port and generate thousands of new jobs.
The Howard Street Tunnel was built in 1895, more than 60 years before Malcolm McLean invented the first shipping container, and during a time when no one could have envisioned needing a larger tunnel to move commerce.
This project is a game-changer. It includes increasing the vertical clearances by 18 inches inside the tunnel and at 21 bridges in Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania. Most of the work on the bridges is completed, which allows CSX to run double-stack trains to and from the Port of Baltimore on a temporary double-stack route until the Howard Street Tunnel work is finished as early as the end of 2026.
EXECUTIVE VIEW
The ability to run double-stacked trains will increase the Port’s business by approximately 160,000 containers annually and create almost 13,000 new jobs. These jobs include project construction jobs and those that will be created from the increased business. It also will put the Port of Baltimore on a more level playing field with its competitors.
As the most inland Port on the East Coast, the Port of Baltimore is the quickest and least expensive way for goods to move to the Midwest. Double stacking provides a more cost-effective way to transport freight by rail compared to trucks, reducing congestion along the Interstate 95 corridor and delivering environmental benefits with fewer emissions. It also will provide the East Coast with seamless double- stack capacity from Maine to Florida.
We look forward to continuing to partner with CSX to complete this beneficial project and ultimately increase business for the Port of Baltimore.
Paul J. Wiedefeld, Maryland Transportation Secretary
Volume Gains, Howard Street Tunnel Project Make for a Bright Outlook
Greetings from Baltimore, everyone. I hope you had a very enjoyable summer as we now settle into fall. The Port of Baltimore continues to make good
progress. Our most recent cargo numbers from August showed year-over-year gains of 31% for cars and 28% for breakbulk cargos. We’re handling more than 90% of the ships that we were handling a year ago and have seen a significant increase in the number of trucks coming in and out of the Port. We’re now averaging about 3,300 trucks a day, which is about 1,000 more than in August and nearly back to our average of 3,500 per day pre-incident.
Our containers had a strong second half of the summer. Ports America Chesapeake, which operates our Seagirt container terminal, is up to handling about 80% of the volume it was a year ago. Baltimore continues to be a very strong cruise port as both of our homeported ships, Carnival Pride and Royal Caribbean’s Vision of the Seas, continue to sail year-round at full capacity to exciting locales like the Bahamas,
Bermuda, Caribbean, and New England and Canada. We are also moving forward with the CSX Howard
Street Tunnel Project, which will give us the ability to handle double-stacked containers on rail. The project is reconstructing a 129-year-old tunnel in Baltimore and 21 other locations in Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania to increase vertical clearances by 18 inches to allow for double-stacked container trains to and from the Port of Baltimore. At full completion in 2026, it will allow us to operate double-stacked rail directly into the Midwest.
As we head into the last quarter of 2024, we look forward to continued progress. The future is very bright
for the Port of Baltimore and we are excited to be working closely with our valued customers and supply chain partners to make that happen.
Jonathan Daniels, Executive Director
[6] The Port of Baltimore ■ ISSUE 4 / 2024