Date of Award

6-22-1981

Degree Type

Major Paper

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Marine Affairs

Abstract

This paper came about as a synthesis of interests in ships, railroads and history. Perhaps no other port on the East Coast has such a strong blend of these three forces as the Port of Baltimore. This paper is about the interaction of railroads and the port and how this interaction continues to play a major role in the Port of Baltimore's development. The original hypothesis assumed that Baltimore's strong history with the railroads made her a railroad port. But hard times and competitive truck rates have driven the railroads out of Baltimore to such an extent that rail service in the Port of Baltimore may not be able to handle projected container (and coal) traffic. In this paper, the above hypothesis was put to the test of available facts and interviews to see if indeed the Port of Baltimore was losing a valuable service. The author's conclusionis that the railroads are leaving the Port and that the rail infrastructure may not be capable of handling future demands for container traffic.

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