b'30American Journal ofTransportation ajot.com(ACHIEVEMENTScontinuedCarolina ports have invested over $356cold chain investments at the Port of(BEGINScontinued from page 26)from page 26) million in infrastructure improvementWilmington. Phase 2 of WilmingtonsThelaunchofSACP3.0builds Queen City Express, which providesprojects at its facilities, including turn- refrigeratedcontaineryardexpan- on recent upgrades and infrastructure railservicetotheCharlotteInlanding basin expansion, harbor deepening,sion project is nearly complete and isimprovements at the Port of Wilming-Port via CSX, led to an almost 75%andberthrenovationandexpansion.expected to open within weeks. Thoseton designed to better service truckers year-over-yeargrowthinintermodalAnewcontainergatecomplexandimprovements will nearly double theandthelocalport-usercommunity. rail volume at the Port of Wilming- expandedcontaineryardwillhelpPort of Wilmingtons plug capacity toLastyear,thePortofWilmington ton and a record year for intermodalfacilitatetheportsparticipationinalmost 1,600. Given the growth tra- opened its new South Gate Container volumeinfiscalyear2023,whichSACP 3.0, the new interoperable chas- jectory, initial site work for a futureComplex, a $26 million project that ended on June 30. The Port of Wilm- sis pool serving South Atlantic ports,Phase 3 was included in Phase 2. reconfigured the ports previous con-ingtons express rail services in totalwhich is comprised of 45,000 chassisNC Ports is exploring putting itstainergatelayoutusedbytruckers, accountedfor9%oftotalcontainerservicing 75 locations in North Caro- port logistics assets to use for the off- increasing the outbound lanes to six volumemovingthroughtheportinlina,SouthCarolina, Alabama,Flor- shore wind industry, with wind facili- and inbound lanes to seven. fiscal year 2023, while the Midwestida, and Georgia. (See box on page 26) tiesattheportsofWilmingtonandSeveralnewtechnologiesare Express and the Queen City ExpressOtheron-portprojectsinWilm- MoreheadCityunderconsideration.incorporatedinthenewcomplex, averaged over 550 TEU per week.ingtonincludeanewintermodalrailA recent North Carolina Departmentincludingweigh-in-motionscales, We are committed to continuedfacility, on-dock rail replacement, andofCommercereportrecommendedopticalcharacterrecognition(OCR) collaboration with CSX, said Brianseveralpavingprojects.Phase2ofassessing the competitiveness of anportals, truck radio frequency identi-Clark, executive director of the NorthWilmingtonsrefrigeratedcontainerinstallationportalongthesouthernfication (RFID) tag and license plate Carolina State Ports Authority, of theyard expansion project is expected toNorth Carolina coast and noted thatreaders,andotherfeaturesdesigned intermodal services, and to identifydoubleWilmingtonsplugcapacity.using local facilities will allow Northtoreducetruckturnaroundtimes. newinlandmarketsinNorthCaro- Wilmingtonsnewon-dockintermo- Carolina earlier access to supply off- NC Ports also recently enhanced and lina and beyond that will benefit fromdal facility will introduce an additionalshore wind projects. The Kitty Hawkupgraded its chassis yard at the Port efficient and low-cost intermodal rail5,000 feet of working track and spe- Offshoreproject,a2.5-gigawattof Wilmington to include new inter-service from the Port of Wilmington. cialized container handling equipment. installation 27 miles off North Caro- change technology, additional inspec-Commenting on the Port of Wilm- linasOuterBanks,isscheduledtotion lanes, and a streamlined chassis ingtonstoprankingforefficiency,M oreheadC ity andP ort oF begin operations next year. drop off and pick-up process.Clark attributed the achievement to thew ilMington When it comes to maritime ser- Ourobjectivewiththeimple-ports critical infrastructure improve- On-portprojectsinthePortofvices, the Port of Wilmington addedmentation of our new chassis yard was ments, adding that our critical infra- Morehead City include berth improve- the 2M Emerald/TP16/ZSA Service toto do as much work for our truckers in structure improvements have allowedments,cranerailextensions,andnewits rotation as well as Ellerman Cityadvance of their arrival as possible, us to maintain our best-in-class vesselwarehousingspace.Lastyear,More- Liners to its roster of carriers. The 2Msaid Doug Vogt, chief operating offi-productivity with no on-port dwell.head City was awarded $1.7 million byservice expanded Wilmingtons reachcer of the North Carolina State Ports Wilmingtons ranking moved up threethe U.S. Department of TransportationstoincludeSingapore,Xiamen, Yan- Authority.We added some personnel spots in the latest World Bank and S&PMaritime Administration (MARAD) fortian, and Bilbao. Ellerman Citys bi- to expedite the process and to ensure GlobalContainerPortPerformancetheportsRadioIslandRailImprove- weekly USX service expanded Norththat we always have good order chas-Index(CPPI).Thesameindexalsoments Project. That project will replaceCarolina ports access to the ports ofsis available and ready to go. ranksthePortofWilmingtonastheexisting tracks, ballast, and ties, as wellAntwerp, Rotterdam, and Tilbury. Truckers are required to be regis-44th most productive in the world, upas turnouts, switches, and crossing sur- Expandingourconnectivityintered with the Uniform Intermodal Inter-from 49th a year ago, out of the total offace treatments. key routes is a critical component ofchange and Facilities Access Agreement 348 included in the study. TheNorthCarolinaStatePorts(ACHIEVEMENTScontinued onand to sign the CCM contract in order to Overthepastfiveyears,NorthAuthoritycontinuestofocusonpage 35) participate in SACP 3.0.'