2,300 miles from the Puget Sound area
North Baltimore, Ohio, is some 2,300 miles from the Puget Sound area. But this tiny town south of Toledo is an important link in the CSX railroad’s National Gateway.
So far, CSX has spent $575 million, along with $280 million from state and federal governments and others, to create a speedy, high-capacity rail corridor that converges in North Baltimore. The railroad calls North Baltimore “the nerve center” of its intermodal network.
Specifically, container traffic is being routed to this Ohio town from East Coast ports, where it is sorted onto trains for Chicago and other major distribution centers in the Midwest. CSX is counting on much more of it when the widening of the Panama Canal is due to be completed next year.
That’s when huge container vessels from Asia can sail directly to the East and Gulf coasts of the United States. Now, 70 percent of this traffic comes through West Coast ports, including Seattle and Tacoma.
We’ve been in the habit of fretting about the rivalry here in the Puget Sound area. Or about Prince Rupert and Vancouver in British Columbia. And don’t forget the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
It’s time to meet the new competition.
Say hello to New York/New Jersey; Hampton Roads, Va.; Savannah, Ga.; Jacksonville, Fla.; and Miami. Also, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston, Wilmington, N.C., and others in Florida and on the Gulf Coast.