Hyundai Intermodal Switches to CSX

Hyundai Intermodal, a unit of Hyundai Merchant Marine, will switch from Norfolk Southern to CSX Transportation as its eastern-U.S. railroad partner beginning June 1.

Hyundai said it is making the change partly because a new intermodal terminal CSX is building in Northwest Ohio will cut 24 to 48 hours off transit times for international box shipments. The facility is set to open in the first quarter of 2011.

That terminal in North Baltimore, Ohio, south of Toledo will be a key hub in CSX’s National Gateway corridor project. The corridor plan is to raise clearances to allow double-stacking of containers on intermodal trains moving north-south near the Interstate 95 corridor in the mid-Atlantic region, and then west to Ohio.

The new terminal “will allow interchange trains to bypass Chicago, and the congestion in and around Chicago, and move through for processing to final destination without delay,” the shipping company said.

Hyundai also cited CSX’s competitive intermodal service to all major East Coast ports and to key intermodal markets, in its decision to move to that rail line.

Hyundai Merchant Marine operates at least 110 ships on dozens of sea lanes to over 100 ports. Its intermodal subsidiary serves major ramps in North America through exclusive agreements with rail carriers.

Contact John Boyd at jboyd@joc.com.