Ledger 08 · Insights
Numbers, not news.
Short, sourced pieces on the decisions a Baltimore importer actually faces. Each one ends with what to send us if you want the figure for your own lane.
- 5
- Pieces published
- 0
- Press releases rewritten
- 1
- Worked example per piece
- MPA
- Primary source for port facts
- 01Double-stack is live: how the Howard Street Tunnel changes your Baltimore-to-Chicago landed costCSX double-stack service out of Seagirt is live, and the MPA expects about 160,000 more containers a year. Here is a worked example, with labelled assumptions, of when rail beats truck on the Baltimore to Chicago lane.Oct 27, 2026
Intermodal rail - 02Hazmat and over-height freight out of the Port of Baltimore until 2030: the routing playbookThe harbor tunnels bar hazmat and anything over 14 ft 6 in tall or 11 ft wide, and the bridge that carried them is not back until late 2030. Here are the routes, the time and mileage penalties, and the tender language that keeps the cargo moving.Oct 20, 2026
Routing - 03FTZ 74 vs a bonded warehouse: a worked example on a $2M container programBoth tools defer duty, and on a simple program they look alike. The worked example, with the duty rate as a variable, shows where Foreign Trade Zone 74 pulls ahead and when a bonded warehouse is all you need.Oct 13, 2026
Duty deferral - 04Sparrows Point Container Terminal: what importers should do before 2028Tradepoint Atlantic and MSC’s terminal arm broke ground May 1, 2026 on a 168-acre, $1.2 billion container terminal, first berth 2028. Importers who settle contracts, warehouse location, rail and FTZ activation now are ready when the first ship ties up.Oct 6, 2026
Port capacity - 05Why Baltimore beats Norfolk and NY/NJ for Midwest-bound imports (with the mileage table)About one third of US households sit within a day’s drive of the Port of Baltimore, and Chicago is about 700 road miles from the Seagirt gate. Here is the mileage table, the port facts, and an honest look at when another port is the better call.Sep 29, 2026
Port selection
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