Posted on December 13, 2018
The Port of Baltimore is set to deepen a second container berth to 50 ft at the Seagirt Marine Terminal as part of a US$32.7m project funded by the state and terminal operator Ports America Chesapeake.
Governor Larry Hogan announced that the Maryland Department of Transportation Maryland Port Administration (MDOT MPA) will receive a US$6.6m US Department of Transportation grant to contribute toward the project.
Additionally, the state of Maryland will contribute US$7.8m and Ports America Chesapeake will add US$18.4m in order to reach the US$32.7m total.
Once construction is completed, which is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2019 and take approximately a year to finish, the port will be able to handle two supersized container ships simultaneously.
The first 50 ft deep berth was constructed under a public-private agreement signed in 2010 between the Maryland Port Administration and Ports America Chesapeake, making the port one of a few US East Coast ports able to accommodate larger vessels.
Earlier this year, the Port of Baltimore welcomed the 11,000 teu Gunde Maersk, the largest container ship to ever visit Maryland, at Seagirt Container Terminal.
The port’s container business has grown over the last few years as it grew 5% in October 2018 and the facility handled a record 596,792 teu in 2017.
In 2018, the Port of Baltimore’s state-owned terminals also set a record number of containers handled in one month with 90,152m teu handled in May.
Source: cm
