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Savannah rail expansion to cut transit times for containers
来源：shippingazette.com 编辑：编辑部 发布：2017/11/01 09:10:34
THE Port of Savannah is pushing ahead with a US$128 million rail project to add 97,000 feet of track and expand working tracks to 18.
The expansion will enable CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway to build unit trains at the Garden City Terminal.
That means less dwell time and faster transits as trains will no longer be required to stop at an inland yard to add freight.
For example, shippers of ocean containers will be able get their goods to inland destinations such as Memphis and Chicago two days faster, reported IHS Media.
The project will double the terminal's current rail lift capacity from 500,000 to one million. The two Class I railways currently provide 25 weekly intermodal services to the port.
CSX is more constrained than NS in building longer trains at its on-dock terminal, but even the latter cannot build a train longer than 2,000 feet without it edging out of Garden City and affecting local road traffic.
When the project that commences in early 2018 is completed in 2020, up to 10,000-foot trains will be able to build at the port.
The project will enable the port to reduce dwell time to within 24 hours, down from the average of 48 hours at present. Thanks to rising volume, CSX and NS will have enough containers to build trains that can go straight to their destination, instead of having to stop at a switching yard to gain more density.
Among the top four US east coast ports in terms of rail lift share in 2016, Savannah was ranked third, with 22.2 per cent. Executive director of the Georgia Port Authority (GPA) Griff Lynch said the five-year goal is to increase that to 25 per cent.
Savannah's container volume rose by 6.9 per cent to 3.9 million TEU during the GPA's most recent July-to-June fiscal year. Excluding empty boxes, volume during that period totalled three million TEU, up seven per cent compared to the corresponding prior year period, according to PIERS data.
The creation of inland ports in the middle ground between the hinterland and the limited local market is also key to GPA's strategy. A second inland terminal is due to open next autumn at Chatsworth, in northwest Georgia. Mr Lynch said due diligence is being performed on a third terminal planned for northeast Georgia and that three other inland ports are also on the drawing board.
The GPA expects the Chatsworth intermodal terminal to reduce Atlanta truck traffic by 50,000 trips per year and extend Savannah's intermodal rail reach into Tennessee, northeast Alabama, and parts of Kentucky.
The expansion will enable CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway to build unit trains at the Garden City Terminal.
That means less dwell time and faster transits as trains will no longer be required to stop at an inland yard to add freight.
For example, shippers of ocean containers will be able get their goods to inland destinations such as Memphis and Chicago two days faster, reported IHS Media.
The project will double the terminal's current rail lift capacity from 500,000 to one million. The two Class I railways currently provide 25 weekly intermodal services to the port.
CSX is more constrained than NS in building longer trains at its on-dock terminal, but even the latter cannot build a train longer than 2,000 feet without it edging out of Garden City and affecting local road traffic.
When the project that commences in early 2018 is completed in 2020, up to 10,000-foot trains will be able to build at the port.
The project will enable the port to reduce dwell time to within 24 hours, down from the average of 48 hours at present. Thanks to rising volume, CSX and NS will have enough containers to build trains that can go straight to their destination, instead of having to stop at a switching yard to gain more density.
Among the top four US east coast ports in terms of rail lift share in 2016, Savannah was ranked third, with 22.2 per cent. Executive director of the Georgia Port Authority (GPA) Griff Lynch said the five-year goal is to increase that to 25 per cent.
Savannah's container volume rose by 6.9 per cent to 3.9 million TEU during the GPA's most recent July-to-June fiscal year. Excluding empty boxes, volume during that period totalled three million TEU, up seven per cent compared to the corresponding prior year period, according to PIERS data.
The creation of inland ports in the middle ground between the hinterland and the limited local market is also key to GPA's strategy. A second inland terminal is due to open next autumn at Chatsworth, in northwest Georgia. Mr Lynch said due diligence is being performed on a third terminal planned for northeast Georgia and that three other inland ports are also on the drawing board.
The GPA expects the Chatsworth intermodal terminal to reduce Atlanta truck traffic by 50,000 trips per year and extend Savannah's intermodal rail reach into Tennessee, northeast Alabama, and parts of Kentucky.