PortMiami expanding to double freight rail

PortMiami is clearing the tracks for a rail expansion to double railway freight capacity from the port by 2027.

“The rail as you see it today, the FEC [Florida East Coast Railway] intermodal yard, was opened here in 2014,” said Hydi Webb, PortMiami director and CEO. “We have 9,000 feet of track, and … it goes from the port here, it connects to their rail yard in Hialeah, and then it goes up to Jacksonville.

Once it hits Jacksonville … there’s an option to continue to head north up into the hinterland and either take the CSX Railroad or the Norfolk Southern Railroad.

“So the big picture: we can reach 70% of the US population anywhere from one day to four days,” she said.

PortMiami received a $16 million grant from the US Department of Transportation’s RAISE program in 2022 to help the port with sustainability.
“We have about 5% of our cargo that goes through the rail right now, but what that means is there’s a lot of potential future expansion for our rail,” said Ms. Webb. “We were awarded a RAISE grant and we plan to expand our rail, going from three tracks to five tracks, as well as getting hybrid electrical equipment to work within the FEC yard.”

The total cost for the project is $40,199,768. It consists of two elements: expanded intermodal rail capacity and cargo gate optimization.

The rail expansion, with a 2027 completion date, is to sit within the existing space.

“We have the space already,” said Ms. Webb. “It’s within the existing footprint that’s out here, which is a beautiful thing because as we’re expanding the port, we’re going vertical … but the space for the expansion is in an already existing intermodal footprint.”

Additionally, rail cargo is expected to multiply.

“It’s [the amount of cargo by rail] expected to grow,” said Ms. Webb. “We see the volume growing, we see the benefits of it. Number one is there’s going to be a reduction of emissions, and it’s going to be less congestion on our interstate highway system by moving things by rail. We’re all about connectivity, and how we connect the port to the mainland into the hinterlands. You can access the port by water, by truck, and by rail.”

Trains run throughout the day, said Ms. Webb. The typical pattern is they arrive in the seaport at 1 p.m., load up, complete their work and leave between 6 and 6:30 p.m. “We try to avoid the rush hours with going through the streets of downtown.”

The trains run weekdays only. They cross Biscayne Boulevard in 90 seconds, said Eric Olafson, director of global trade and business development at PortMiami. “That’s [90 seconds] the average stoplight.”

The goal is to enhance the number of runs and the volume that’s moved on and off the port via the FEC route, said Ms. Webb.

“The idea is to more than double the capacity, physical capacity, with the expansion of new tracks and more efficient cranes, and with that, we will take part of the dynamic capacity,” said Luis Hernandez, vice president intermodal at Florida East Coast Railway. “So if we turn the ramp more than once we’ve doubled the capacity, right? Not only physically, but as you turn the ramp faster or more times throughout the day, the capacity expands. So right now we’re moving one train per day.”

“The idea is in the short term, move a second one, and we can add up to five trains per day,” he said. “So that would go on the dynamic capacity based on the demand and the ability of both [the] port terminal and ourselves to convert that freight that goes into West Miami to rail or that goes to Orlando or even far beyond. But right now, the demand is in Miami and Central Florida.”

Export cargo that comes into the port is led mostly by cotton, textile and apparels, said Ms. Webb. Seaboard Marine is the biggest user of rail at PortMiami. Food, beverages, wines and fruits also arrive. On the import side, “we’re importing a lot of apparel and textile and vehicles, more of the big box consumer goods and some machinery.”

Moving cargo by rail is more environmentally conscious.

“One locomotive can move 200 containers,” said Ms. Webb. “Moving cargo by rail is a lot more energy efficient, because we take the trucks off the road and we reduce the emissions.”

The financial impact of using rails instead of trucks depends on different factors.

“We have a shuttle train that goes from Quality – which is a container yard – to the port that many of the major ocean carriers use … and then we also have a lot of trains that are penetrating all the way to North Carolina with the cotton that comes in and that goes down and then the finished products that are coming back from Honduras and Guatemala with the major [labels]: Fruit of the Loom, Champion brands,” said Mr. Olafson. “That goes all the way to North Carolina. So, it [the cost via rail compared to trucks] depends on how far you go and what you’re carrying.”

However, the time it takes for the content to be transported is taken into account.

“It’s more time to market than anything else,” said Ms. Webb. “You can reach … 70% of the US in one to four days.” Taking cargo to Atlanta takes two days, “to Charlotte it’s two days, to Tennessee, Nashville, it’s three days. So you’re really at speed to market.”

Orlando can be reached in four hours, said Mr. Olafson. “We call it overnight because it goes to Hialeah first, they’ll build the train and then send it, but by the time it leaves Hialeah, it’s four hours from Miami, and then we can get to Jacksonville in eight [or eight and a half] hours.”

The partnership, grants and expansion is focused on making Miami a greener city, said Mr. Hernandez.

PortMiami and Florida East Coast Railway have been good partners since 2014 when the on-dock rail was built, said Mr. Hernandez. “We’ve been working head-to-head with them on how to develop the port. We know the constraints that the port has, because it’s an island, and the best solution to provide capacity to the port is definitely by rail.”

“We are anticipating cargo growth,” said Ms. Webb. “We’re expanding our markets and we’re investing in nearshoring, which is all the products that are being produced closer to the US now, and geographically Miami is situated very well for that north-south trade. And as we expand and get these new volumes, we see rail being a big part of that connectivity, moving things on and off of the port.”