CSX Opens Ohio Intermodal Hub

CSX Transportation began operating its large, new intermodal terminal at North Baltimore, Ohio, which will be the western anchor of its National Gateway doublestack corridor.

The company will use the terminal near Toledo to route container traffic from East Coast ports into Midwest destinations of Chicago, St. Louis or other cities.

The site also will be a transfer hub for stack trains loaded on the West Coast and headed ultimately for Eastern cities as well as the Midwest, with CSX crews taking over trains from western railroads that would normally move slowly through the congested Chicago hub system. Marine container operations expect to save as much as two full days by using the Ohio terminal instead of breaking down stack trains at Chicago.

The hub has just started to handle container lifts in recent days, and CSX plans to gradually transition customer shipments from current routes through the new terminal over the next few months. Bill Clement, vice president of intermodal at CSX, said that "as we bring the Northwest Ohio Terminal Facility up to full operational capacity, customers will enjoy faster and more reliable intermodal service than ever before." The hub employs 200 full-time workers. CSX expects it to handle a throughput capacity of nearly 2 million containers per year, including individual container lifts between railcars and trucks, and movements of multiple rail cars blocked for a single destination.

-- Contact John D. Boyd at jboyd@joc.com.