Genesee & Wyoming subsidiary Bay Line Railroad entered into an agreement with the Panama City Port Authority to operate a Choice Terminal bulk transload facility at the port’s Intermodal Distribution Center (IDC).
The facility is located approximately 15 miles from Port Panama City. Choice Terminals are operated by G&W railroads to provide their customers with delivery, storage, inventory management and transloading of bulk products.
The terminal is expected to begin operations in November 2016 and will feature a 20-car rail yard, a five-acre staging area and equipment necessary to support bulk transfers. The IDC also offers a FedEx Ground distribution center, 125 acres of shovel-ready rail-served industrial sites and 150,000 square feet of warehouse space.
“This rail-and-truck logistics solution allows the Port Authority and local customers to keep inventory closer to their markets and take advantage of the superior economics offered by freight-rail service,” Bay Line President Bill Jasper said in a news release. “The new terminal will receive bulk rail shipments, transfer the product to intermodal boxes and have the boxes trucked to the Port for international movement. The terminal can also transfer imported goods from the Port into bulk railcars for shipment to rail-served sites.”
The 108-mile Bay Line Railroad interchanges with Class I railroads CSX and Norfolk Southern. Freight hauled includes aggregates, chemicals, food and feed products, forest products, metallic ores and minerals, and steel and scrap. The Bay Line was acquired by G&W in 2005.
