Maryland Governor Wes Moore commended the launch of double-stacked rail operations to and from the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore.
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Part of the Howard Street Tunnel Project, the significant milestone is critical to making Maryland more competitive, opening new opportunities for intermodal rail service in the Northeast and from the Port of Baltimore to Midwest markets, generating thousands of new jobs, and delivering critical benefits to the region months earlier than expected.
“This is a great day for the Port of Baltimore and a great day for Maryland,” said Governor Moore.
“As the Port of Baltimore continues to grow, this transformational project will help increase business activity and create thousands of new jobs. In partnership, we are creating new pathways to work, wages, and wealth for all.”
In addition to enhanced transport cost efficiency and enhanced environmental benefits, double-stacking containers will help the Port grow its business by about 160,000 containers annually and will create 13,000 new jobs in construction and in operations.
Double-stacking will also complement the expansion of the Seagirt Marine Terminal, operated by Ports America Chesapeake, as home to supersized Neo-Panamax cranes that handle ultra-large container ships.
The Howard Street Tunnel Project includes reconstructing the 129-year-old tunnel in Baltimore and 21 other locations in Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania to increase vertical clearance by 18 inches to allow double-stacked container trains to and from the Port of Baltimore.
When fully complete, the double-stack project will provide the East Coast with seamless double-stack capacity from Maine to Florida.
The Port of Baltimore generates about 20,300 direct jobs, with more than 273,000 jobs overall linked to Port activities.
The Port ranked first in 2023 among the nation’s ports for volume of autos and light trucks, roll on/roll off heavy farm and construction machinery, imported sugar, and imported gypsum.
It ranked ninth among major U.S. ports for foreign cargo handled and ninth for total foreign cargo value. ■
Under an intense surge of arctic air, Friday morning will begin with the coldest temperatures so far this season across much of the central and eastern U.S. with blustery conditions and a piercing wind chill.