Rail News Home Intermodal June 2017 Rail News: Intermodal Last month, the COSCO Development container ship became the largest ship to pass through the Panama Canal.Photo – Panama Canal Authority — By
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Port of Virginia welcomed the COSCO Development container ship, the largest vessel to call on the U.S. East Coast to date. Over the course of the ship’s 30-plus-hour stop at the Virginia International Gateway terminal, crews loaded and unloaded almost 2,000 containers.The Development, which has a carrying capacity of more than 13,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), came to the terminal after passing through the recently expanded Panama Canal. The ship’s arrival ushered in a new era for the port, Virginia Port Authority (VPA) officials said last month.“For years, we have been talking about the ‘next generation’ of vessels and the ‘big-ship era.’ This is what we have been preparing for … the big ships are here,” said VPA Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director John Reinhart in a May 9 press release.Indeed, more than 1,200 “Neopanamax” vessels — ships with a carrying capacity of up to 14,000 TEUs — have passed through the Panama Canal since its $5.25 billion expansion project was completed in June 2016, according to the
Panama Canal Authority. The project involved widening the waterway and adding two new sets of locks to allow larger ships to pass through.In the run-up to the opening of the widened Panama Canal, some observers forecast an uptick in Asian containerized traffic heading to the U.S. East and Gulf coasts due to larger ships arriving. While the overall market share of traffic calling on those ports has been growing compared to West Coast ports, the expanded Panama Canal is just one factor, trade experts and port leaders say.Going forward, though, the widened canal could spell future volume boosts for eastern ports and railroads. For now, intermodal stakeholders are working to remain nimble regardless of how trade patterns shake out.“There will be vessels of similar or equal size [as the Development] calling on Virginia with regularity and we are expecting to benefit from increased volumes,” said Port of Virginia spokesman Joe Harris in an email.From June 2016 through mid-May this year, the port’s overall TEU volumes are up 7 percent compared with volumes during the same period. In addition, the port’s rail volume for the same period grew 13 percent year over year.The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is raising the Bayonne Bridge to allow larger vessels to access its terminals.Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
“The increase is the result of a number of factors and the Panama Canal is among them,” Harris said.
Other reasons for the Port of Virginia’s rail traffic boost, in particular? The port’s growing double-stack access to key Midwestern markets has played a part. Then there’s the speed at which shippers can reach those markets: Cargo moving via Norfolk Southern Railway’s Heartland Corridor can reach Chicago in 40 hours.