b'16American Journal ofTransportation ajot.comPort of Baltimorewith cargoMARYLAND PORTS 2023growth comes enhanced services and infrastructure The port is also piloting environmental initiatives with the help of government grants.By Peter Buxbaum, AJOTThePortofBaltimoreton, Jamaica before coming to hadastrong2022,whenitBaltimore.FromMaryland, handled a record $74.3 billionthe line continues on to Nor-worth of cargo and establishedfolk,New York,Boston,the newrecordsforimportcon- Suez Canal and Kaohsiung. tainers,importedpaper,and generalcargotonsatpublicH owardT unnele xpansionterminals. Baltimore also han- ThePortofBaltimores dledthemostcarsandlightgrowingcontainerbusiness trucksamongallU.S.portswill be further strengthened by for the 12th consecutive yearthe expansion of the Howard and ranked first in the nationStreet Tunnel, owned by CSX for roll on/roll off heavy farmRailway,whichisunderway andconstructionmachinery,andscheduledtobecom-imported sugar, and importedpleted in 2025. The expanded gypsum.Theportistenth(ENHANCEDcontinued amongmajorU.S.portsforon page 21)total cargo value and twelfth forcargotonnage.Itranks ninthfortotalforeigncargo. 2valueandeleventhamongAccess to of the U.S. population within 24 hoursmajorU.S.portsforforeign3cargo handledBaltimore is also a primeA large regional distribution center networkgateway for goods heading to thee-commercemarketand. Closest East Coast port to the Midwestfor cargo sent to the Midwest byrail,whichexplainsthe.recentannouncementbytheNeo-Panamax cranesIsrael-based carrier ZIM that it was doubling the frequency of.its Baltimore Express service50- foot-deep berthsto weekly and enhancing the sizeofthevesselsdedicated to that service by 50%from 6,000-TEUcontainervessels to 8,000-TEU ships.B alTimoree xpressBaltimore Express began a year ago as a service between China,SoutheastAsia,and theU.S.EastCoast,with Baltimore as the first port of call, offering shippers the fast-est transit time from Asia to Baltimore, according to ZIM. Since the services inception,Go Baltimorehasalsohandled 100unscheduledshipcalls during the recovery from theBigger COVID-19 pandemic. Theincreasefrombi-weekly to weekly calls, said BayardHogans,vicepresi- a n ddent of Ports America Chesa-peake,showsthestrength of our e-commerce and mid- BetterAtlantic market.ZIMhasexcelledin utilizing our existing rail net-work to bring cargo into theinMidwest,addedWilliamBaltimoreDoyle,executivedirectorof the Port of Baltimore, as well as the ports ultra-large, neo-panamax cranes and network ofregionaldistribution,ful-fillment, and sorting centers.ZIMsupgradedBalti-moreExpress,anaround-the-worldservice,usesthe PanamaandSuezcanals, witharoutethattakesves-sels from Jakarta, Indonesia;Marylandports.com 1.800.638.7519LaemChabang,Thailand; CaiMep,Vietnam; Yantian, China;Kaohsiung,Taiwan;Governor Wes Moore MDOT Secretary Paul J. Wiedefeld MPA Interim Acting Executive Director Brian Millerthe Panama Canal; and Kings-'