Feature, Freight News, Rail

NC Ports Boost Intermodal Rail Services

[ September 26, 2024   //   Gary G Burrows ]

North Carolina Ports has reported back-to-back years of record intermodal rail volumes due to new and expanding programs utilizing the Port of Wilmington’s express rail products.
Port officials expect this growth to continue, as work begins on an expanded intermodal rail yard that will add four new working tracks on terminal for loading and discharging containers.
The Queen City Express, which provides daily service from the Wilmington to the Charlotte Inland Port, an intermodal shipping hub with direct access to major distribution corridors in the U.S. Southeast. The inland port provides customers flexible staging and flow advantages for distribution and production in Charlotte, the Interstate 85 corridor, and the mid-Atlantic.
Queen City Express is one of the East Coast’s fastest ship-to-rail services on the East Coast, putting cargo in Charlotte less than 48 hours after vessel discharge, with no rail dwell times and high vessel productivity.
“The Queen City Express is utilized across all trades and is used by six major global east/west carriers and multiple leading north/south regional carriers,” said Hans Bean, chief commercial officer, North Carolina Ports. “This product has evolved over time and was shaped by the voice of the customer.”
Apparel and textiles, and furniture and fixtures, two of state’s strongest legacy industry verticals are major users of the Queen City Express. From exporting raw materials to the import of finished goods, the express caters to the integrated, high-velocity supply chains required to service the apparel and textile industry. Other leading commodities on the express intermodal rail service include appliances, automotive parts, chemicals, machinery and spirits and beverages.

Go West

Like the Queen City Express, customers utilizing the Wilmington Midwest Express and the Wilmington-Rocky Mount Express also benefit from no rail dwell time. The Wilmington Midwest Express puts cargo in Chicago and other Midwest markets in five to days, while the Wilmington-Rocky Mount Express provides daily access to and from the CSX Carolina Connector terminal in Rocky Mount, NC.
Time-sensitive apparel, machinery, industrial products and spirits and beverages are all examples of commodities that rely on the wester express services.
All the express intermodal services are true “on-dock” products, capable of discharging directly to rail. They are also time-definite services to meet key production and distribution dates.
To maintain reliable, cost-competitive intermodal rail services that expand options beyond the local truck market, NC Ports plans to improve inland infrastructure with a new intermodal rail yard that will provide four new working tracks totaling 5,000 linear feet. This facility will help divert more than 250,000 container boxes from trucks to rail over the next decade and will expand the port’s intermodal rail capacity to more than 50,000 container movements by rail annually. A separate rail storage project will also add 6,000 feet near the new North Gate entrance for increased storage capacity.
North Caroline Ports overs deepwater ports in Wilmington and Morehead City, an inland port in Charlotte and intermodal rail access through CSX’s Carolina Connector in Rocky Mount.

Tags: North Carolina Ports