Ports are continually increasing and improving their intermodal and multimodal capacities and connections to prepare for the increases in freight traffic predicted.<\/p>\n
By Mary Lou Jay<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The U.S. Department of Transportation predicts that the country\u2019s freight traffic will increase by 45 percent by 2045. In anticipation of that growth, U.S. ports are continually increasing and improving their intermodal and multimodal capacities.<\/p>\n With its Mid-American Arc plan, the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) is using intermodal improvements to expand the Port of Savannah\u2019s reach to inland markets like Atlanta, Memphis, St. Louis, Chicago and Columbus, Ohio.<\/p>\n GPA has already made several upgrades to its rail services to allow the faster, less expensive movement of goods by rail to inland terminals. It upgraded its rail system to provide next day service to Atlanta, and it built a short line from the Port of Savannah to Cordele Inland Port. The Appalachian Regional Port in Chatsworth will soon provide a direct, 388-mile rail route to Savannah\u2019s Garden City Terminal.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are taking hundreds of trucks a day off the road,\u201d said Edward McCarthy, GPA COO.<\/p>\n Now the port has embarked on a $128 million Mega-Rail project. \u201cWe have both CSX and Norfolk Southern on-dock facilities, but they are not connected; they are separated by a canal. The plan is to link them together and then increase the current capacity of the facilities,\u201d said McCarthy. The number of combined tracks will grow from 13 to 18, with the length either 2,700 or 3,000 feet.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will be able to build 10,000-foot trains right here on our facility that can go directly into Memphis and Chicago and Atlanta,\u201d McCarthy added.<\/p>\n A FASTLANE grant (Fostering Advancements in Shipping and Transportation for the Long Term Achievement of National Efficiencies) is providing $44 million of the funding; the remaining cost will be borne by the port.<\/p>\n When the project is completed in 2021, GPA will have the largest rail facility in North America. \u201cIt will take us to the next level. We did about 380,000 rail lifts last year, and this new facility will give us one million rail lift capability,\u201d McCarthy said.<\/p>\n