(The following story by Bill Mongelluzzo appeared on The Journal of Commerce website on September 16, 2009.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Distribution centers and manufacturing plants in the Ohio Valley will soon have two new intermodal options for moving their cargo to and from Asia.
CSX Intermodal is clearing tunnels to accommodate double-stack rail service between Mid-Atlantic ports and the Ohio Valley. The National Gateway corridor, as it is called, should be completed in time for the widening of the Panama Canal in 2014.
Also, CSXI in the spring of 2011 is scheduled to complete its Northwest Ohio hub. That project will link CSX Railroad’s service with the BNSF Railway, reducing transit times from West Coast ports to Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati and other Ohio Valley destinations by at least 24 hours, said James Hertwig, president of CSXI.
Hertwig told the Los Angeles Transportation Club Tuesday that CSX does not favor one coast over another in the important U.S.-Asia trade. “The customer makes those decisions. We’re neutral,” he said.
CSX’s goal is to improve its network so shippers have access to cost-efficient intermodal transportation no matter how they route their cargo, Hertwig said.
The National Gateway is an $800 million project with 50 percent of the funding coming from the federal government, 25 percent from CSX and 25 percent from several states along the corridor.
Simultaneously, the Panama Canal is being widened to allow vessels of up to 10,000-TEU capacity to carry cargo from Asia to East Coast ports. At present, the canal is limited to vessels of about 5,000-TEU capacity. CSXI will provide double-stack intermodal service from Virginia and neighboring ports to distribution centers in the Ohio Valley.
West Coast ports serve the manufacturing and distribution centers in the Ohio Valley with intermodal service provided by the BNSF and Union Pacific railroads. The western railroads’ networks link up in the Midwest with service by the eastern railroads to allow transcontinental intermodal rail service.
However, the western and eastern railroads interline services sometimes involve a truck haul between the hubs, which adds to overall transit time. For example, the dray between the BNSF intermodal yard and the CSX intermodal yard in the Chicago area can add 24 to 48 hours to the overall transit time, Hertwig said.
By reducing transit time by at least 24 hours, CSXI’s Northwest Ohio hub will improve the competitiveness of West Coast ports for time-sensitive imports from Asia moving to the Ohio Valley.
While West and East Coast ports have a lock on Asian cargo moving to their respective regions, the Ohio Valley is “jump ball” between the two coasts, Hertwig said.