Bay Line Railroad to operate bulk transload facility for Panama City Port Authority

Bay Line Railroad

The Bay Line Railroad, L.L.C., and the Panama City Port Authority have established an agreement allowing the railroad to run a Choice Terminal™ bulk transload facility out of the port’s Intermodal Distribution Center (IDC).

The railroad is a subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (GWI), which works out of 10 operating regions worldwide. GWI acquired the Bay Line in 2005 and says its railroads operate Choice Terminals to offer customers options regarding delivery, inventory management, storage and the transloading of bulk products.

The Bay Line Choice Terminal is set to begin activity in November, featuring a 20-car rail yard, a five-acre staging area and the equipment needed to allow for successful bulk transfers, representatives say.

The IDC, located about 15 miles from Port Panama City, Fla., offers 125 acres of rail-served industrial sites, a FedEx ground distribution center and 150,000 square-feet of storage 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,” said Bay Line President Bill Jasper. “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.”

Spanning 108 miles, the railroad interchanges with Class 1 railroads CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern, hauling freight such as aggregates, chemicals, food products, forest products, metallic ores and minerals, and steel and scrap.

“The Bay Line Choice Terminal operation is important for the port’s efforts to provide bulk shippers with new and better options for expanding business and trade—not only domestically but with Mexico, the Caribbean and South America,” said Panama City Port Authority Executive Director Wayne Stubbs.