New Railway Equipment for Panama
April 23, 2001
One of Intermarine's new vessels, loads in New Orleans the first shipment of engines and railcars destined for the Panama Canal Railway Company. The shipment consisted of five locomotives and four executive passenger cars. Working from the Nashville Avenue Terminal, the ship is one of Intermarine's multipurpose carriers sporting cranes capable of lifting 400 metric tons--more than enough to lift the 120-ton locomotives.
This shipment marks the beginning of the final phase of a two-year project to build a new high-speed rail link parallel to the Panama Canal. Connecting the Hutchitson Terminal in Balboa with the MIT Terminal in Cristobal, the new rail service will carry containers double-stacked as well as passengers at an operating speed of 60 mph. In all, Intermarine will transport more than 60 railcars for the new railroad. The locomotives and passenger cars were loaded directly from rail sidings in New Orleans and will be discharged directly to the Panama Canal Railway Company track in Cristobal. Unitcargo of Houston provided logistics management and all export formalities.
The Panama Canal Railway Company is a joint venture of the Kansas City Southern Railway and Mi-Jack Products, the Chicago based maker of intermodal terminal equipment. In its initial phase of operation, up to 10 crossings will be made in each direction each day. The railroad will have an annual capacity for the movement of more than 500,000 containers between the two terminals. In addition, the trains will have passenger coaches for both executive and tourist classes. The executive cars, outfitted to resemble Europe's Orient Express, will primarily cater to the daily commuter traffic between Panama City and Cristobal.
Intermarine is a worldwide provider of ocean transport as well as inland heavy haul transportation services for breakbulk, specialized project and heavy lift cargoes. Its global sailings include regularly scheduled services from the United States and Mexico to/from the Americas, Asia, and other worldwide destinations.