Dear Subscriber,
SMOOTH SAILING: PORT
STARTS 2017 OFF WITH A RECORD JANUARY
New Monthly Records
Set for General Cargo and Containers
(BALTIMORE, MD) --- Coming off a record 2016,
the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore’s public marine terminals jumped right
into 2017 with a record month in January.
The Port handled 923,030 tons of general cargo (cars, containers, farm
and construction equipment, forest products, and breakbulk). Most of that tonnage was containers which
also had a record for one month--- 712,386 container tons.
“This record-breaking growth is a direct
result of Maryland’s strategic investments in the Port of Baltimore,” said
Governor Larry Hogan. “As one of only four East Coast ports that have the
infrastructure to handle the new mega-ships, the Port continues to demonstrate
that Maryland is indeed Open for Business.”
The general cargo record is a 14 percent
improvement from January 2016. Last year
the Port’s public marine terminals handled a record 10 million tons of general
cargo. January’s amount of container
tons was a whopping 20 percent leap over January 2016. The Port also handled 37,694 loaded
containers in January, another record.
Last year, a record 538,567 containers crossed the Port’s public
piers.
In addition to those monthly records, rolled
paper was up 26 percent and cars were up 16 percent from January 2016.
The Port of Baltimore was recently named the
most efficient port in the U.S. for the third consecutive time by an
independent analysis conducted by the Journal
of Commerce. The Port averaged 71
container moves per hour per berth, a rate faster than any other major American
port.
Business at the Port of Baltimore generates
about 13,650 direct jobs, while more than 127,000 jobs in Maryland are linked
to port activities. The Port is
responsible for nearly $3 billion in individual wages and salary and more than
$310 million in state and local tax revenues.
In December 2016, the Hogan administration
applied for a U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) FASTLANE grant to
double-stack Baltimore’s Howard Street Tunnel.
Reconstructing the 122-year-old tunnel, which connects to the port and
handles some port products, will accommodate double-stacked container trains
and break a bottleneck that impacts the entire East Coast. This project will be key to meeting the Port
of Baltimore’s rapidly growing container business with mega-ships from the
expanded Panama Canal. Maryland’s
application is currently under review by USDOT.
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