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The public marine terminals at the Port of Baltimore, long the city’s economic engine, posted a record handling year in 2012 in targeted commodities, including automobiles, containers, and farm and construction machinery. The port supports about 14,000 direct jobs.
The number of automobiles and roll on/roll cargo (farm and construction machinery) handled at the port were the highest amounts in the U.S, according to a press release from the Maryland Port Administration (MPA).
Baltimore magazine wrote about history of the Port of Baltimore and its economic turnaround in August 2012.
“In total, the port’s public and private marine terminals saw 36.8 million tons of cargo cross their docks last year. The total dollar value of that amount of cargo was a record $54 billion, which placed Baltimore ninth nationally for dollar value of foreign cargo,” the MPA said.
"Now with a new tentative national labor contract, a new 50-foot deep container berth with four supersized cranes, and healthy overall business growth, the future of the Port of Baltimore has never looked brighter," said Gov. Martin O'Malley in a statement accompanying the report.
From the MPA:
RECORDS ESTABLISHED AT THE PORT OF BALTIMORE IN 2012:
- Autos (public and private terminals):
- 652,000 cars (Highest among all U.S. ports and up 18 percent from 2011)
- The previous record was 551,000 cars in 2011.
- Roll On/Roll Off (farm and construction machinery—public terminals):
- 1.09 million tons (Highest among all U.S. ports and up 16 percent from 2011)
- The previous record was 969,272 tons in 2008.
- General Cargo (public terminals):
- 9.59 million tons (up eight percent from 2011)
- The previous record was 8.96 million tons in 2008.
- Containers (public terminals):
- 6.29 million tons (up seven percent in 2011)
- The previous record was 5.83 million tons in 2011.
- Coal (private terminals):
- 19.6 million tons of exported coal (up 2 percent from 2011).
- The previous record was 19.2 million tons in 2011.
