JaxPort and the Port of New Orleans have new truck-rail transfer facilities that are expected to make more attractive shipping options.
New intermodal container transfer facilities have opened at the ports of Jacksonville and New Orleans to facilitate the movement of cargo by rail.
Freight railroad CSX has already begun using the Port of Jacksonville’s (JaxPort) intermodal terminal at Dames Point on a limited basis to support a high-level military training exercise this month in advance of its official opening to commercial container movements towards the end of summer, according to the port authority. Handling military cargo for the Jacksonville-based 832nd Transportation Battalion and other U.S. Army units is helping CSX train personnel and rehearse operational practices that will be used to safely and efficiently load and unload trains and transfer containers to trucks.
During the exercise, uniformed Army personnel are moving nearly 800 pieces of cargo, including vehicles, containers and equipment, from the new $30 million facility onto a nearby military ship. The ICTF allows cargo to move directly between ships and trains.
The ICTF was funded by the Florida Department of Transportation and a $10 million federal TIGER grant. It is adjacent to the TraPac and Dames Point container terminals and served by CSX.
Local officials view the truck-rail transfer station as critical to boosting container business and economic growth by making it easier and more affordable to serve shippers in the Southeast, and potentially even Midwest. The lack of on-dock rail until now has been one of the factors limiting growth at MOL’s TraPac terminal.
Currently, containers must be drayed by truck about 16 miles to CSX and Norfolk Southern intermodal yards.
Halfway across the nation, the Port of New Orleans on Tuesday dedicated a new $25 million intermodal terminal along the Mississippi River. The terminal, made possible by a $16.7 million TIGER grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, has capacity to move 160,000 TEUs per year by rail. The port authority contributed the remainder of the investment.
Ceres Global and New Orleans Terminal will jointly operate the ICTF.
The new railyard features four tracks with 1,550 feet of working pad for each track, in addition to a runaround track, and two new rubber-tired gantry cranes built by Konecranes. A new marshalling yard of 18-inch concrete paving will provide an additional 64,000 TEUs of capacity in the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal. In addition, the new terminal design will make five more acres available for the planned expansion of the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal.
The New Orleans Public Belt Railroad, a shortline, serves the new terminal and hauls containers to nearby rail yards of six Class I railroads, including Canadian National, responsible for inland transportation through different regions of the country.
“New Orleans is a major player for national and international cargo operations and now we have the assets and capabilities needed to remain competitive at the highest level in the global market,” David Schulingkamp, chairman of the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad, said in a statement. “This new railyard will improve shipping logistics tremendously, which will in turn grow cargo business for the Port of New Orleans.”
The Port of New Orleans, the 14th largest mainland U.S. container port, handled 525,483 TEUs last year.
