Port of Baltimore

Located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. east coast, the Port of Baltimore sits in the center of the Washington/Baltimore Common Market. This inland location makes it the closest Atlantic port to major Midwestern population and manufacturing centers and a day's reach to 1/3 of U.S. households.

Background
The port provides immediate access to the 6.8 million people in the Washington D.C. Baltimore region, the nation's fourth-largest and one of the wealthiest consumer markets in the U.S. The port has two main coal terminals — CNX Marine Terminal in Dundalk and CSX’s Curtis Bay rail yard. It was announced in August, 2011 that Port of Baltimore moved up in national port rankings, up one spot for cargo tonnage and two spots for cargo value. The port transported 32.8 million tons of cargo worth $41.5 billion in 2010.

Coal exports increase at Port of Baltimore
The port’s two main coal terminals — CNX Marine Terminal in Dundalk and CSX’s Curtis Bay rail yard — handled approximately 9 million tons of coal from December 2010 through September 2010, compared with 3.8 million tons at the same point of 2009. The Maryland Port Administration’s reports that the port is on pace to double the 6.7 million tons of coal handled in Baltimore in all of 2009.

It was reported in June 2011 that increased demand from China, India and other countries for high-priced metallurgic coal to fuel steel production is largely responsible for the coal export increase at the port. Additionally, shipments from Appalachian coal mines have helped Baltimore's port out of recession and into positive profit margins. Since the middle of last year, exports of the fuel to the world's fastest-growing region have increased, in some months doubling the figures from the previous year.

Records level of coal traveled through the Port of Baltimore in 2010. The port handled 13.8 million tons of coal, beating out the record set in 1981 by 1 million tons. China received 25% of the coal, while the rest went to South Korea and the Netherlands.

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