SIMIC

Terminal Investment Limited and Tradepoint Atlantic said they will jointly invest and partner in the 165-acre container terminal at the site in Sparrows Point, Maryland. Along with the container terminal, the two plan to develop an on-dock rail facility at the nearby Coke Point site.

The new terminal "will dramatically enhance and support the long-term growth of the local port and the state of Maryland," said TIL and Tradepoint.

Private equity firm Redwood Holdings acquired the former Bethlehem Steel plant in 2014. Sparrows Point has a pier that would be able to accommodate postpanamax vessels and roughly 100 miles of track that connects to CSX Transportation and the Norfolk Southern Railway.

TIL operates 40 container terminals across the world, primarily handling calls by MSC, which itself is the largest import carrier to the United States by volume.

Along with the TIL-Tradepoint announcement, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan signed an agreement with local Baltimore officials to lend support to the development of the container terminal. The agreement calls for a working group assembled from various state and local agencies that would be charged with permitting and overseeing the Sparrows Point development.

William Doyle, executive director of the Maryland Port Administration, which is part of the working group, said that the new terminal would eventually double Baltimore's container capacity.

Its current container terminal, Seagirt, which is operated by Ports America Chesapeake, handles 800,000 TEU per year currently, but is undergoing a densification project over the next five to eight years that will bring its annual capacity to 1.2 million TEU.

"With our public-private partnership with Ports America Chesapeake coupled with Tradepoint Atlantic's announcement today, the Port of Baltimore can become a port able to handle up to 2.5 million TEU annually when all is said and done," said Mr Doyle.

Through July 2022, the Maryland Port Administration reported handling a total of 605,098 TEU, a one per cent increase over the comparable 2021 period. Import volumes of 306,749 TEU for the first seven months were up 3.7 per cent.