Milestones: Baltimore, Puget Sound

General cargo tonnage and container volumes handled by Baltimore’s public marine terminals hit record highs in FY 2014-15, according to data reported by the Maryland Port Administration. The 11,388 TEU CMA CGM Callisto became the largest container ship ever to call a Puget Sound port when it docked at the Northwest Seaport Alliance’s Terminal 18 in Seattle on September 1.

FY 2015 was a record year for public marine terminals in the Port of Baltimore. The new record marks, as reported by the Maryland Port Administration, include:

• Most general cargo in a fiscal year: 9,742,050 tons. General cargo includes containers, autos, roll on/roll off (farm and construction machinery), forest products and break bulk cargo.
• Most general cargo tons in the first six months of a calendar year: 4,881,105 tons in January-June 2015.
• Highest container count in a single month: 79,644 TEUs in June 2015.
• Most containers in a 12-month period: 808,500 TEUs from July 1, 2014, through June 30, 2015.

During calendar year, the port’s private and public terminals together processed some 29.5 million tons of international cargo with a value of nearly $53 billion. The port is a leading handler of autos and light trucks, farm and construction machinery, imported forest products, imported sugar, and imported aluminum.

"We are committed to changing Maryland for the better and ensuring our state is open for business and nowhere is that more true than at the Port of Baltimore," said Gov. Larry Hogan. "Our port continues to prove why it is one of the top producing ports in the nation and one of Maryland’s leading economic engines."

The CMA CGM Callisto, the largest container ship ever to call Puget Sound, arrived Tuesday, September 1, at Terminal 18 in Seattle.

With a container capacity of 11,388 TEUs, the ship, according to the Northwest Seaport Alliance, can carry approximately 40 percent more cargo than the container ships that typically call at the Alliance’s terminals in Seattle and Tacoma.

Marseilles-based CMA CGM has called in Seattle since 2005.

The Callisto, which is repositioning to join the Yangtse Service, called at Port Metro Vancouver in British Columbia before docking in Seattle. It departed Seattle a day later bound for Shanghai.

Terminal 18, a 196-acre facility located on Elliott Bay in Seattle, is equipped with seven super-post-Panamax, three post-Panamax gantry cranes, 15-meter/50-foot water depth, on-dock and near-dock rail, and a berth measuring 1,353 meters/4,440 linear feet in length.

"Ships continue to get larger, and we are ready for them," said John Wolfe, Northwest Seaport Alliance chief executive officer. "We are investing in our terminals and road and rail infrastructure to handle more cargo and the super-post-Panamax ships moving into the trans-Pacific trade."

 

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