An expansion project, currently under construction to the Panama Canal, in Central America, will help drive volume at the new CSX Northwest Ohio Intermodal Yard, west of North Baltimore, in Henry Township.

The canal project is expect to be complete in 2014. It is estimated that 750,000 truckload units per year will be handled at the CSX's ultra-modern, efficient and green container handling facility, which is scheduled for completion next spring. This volume is expected to result in around 2,600 new jobs in the next ten years. There will be approximately 200 workers actually employed at the NWO Yard facility.


Panama Canal Expansion should be completed no later than 2015.


With the canal expansion, huge container ships will pass from the Pacific, east into the Atlantic, and up to east coast ports. These containers will then ship west through CSX's National Gateway Project, via intermodal. This will be a three-way intermodal system, with shipping, rail freight and the trucking industry combining for the most efficient means of transporting goods throughout the United States.

Wood County Commissioner Jim Carter might have summed it up best saying, "Isn't it amazing that we are talking about the Panama Canal expansion, at the same time that we are talking about North Baltimore, Henry Township and Wood County and the impact that our area will have on the United States!"

For more information on the Panamal Canal visit: http://www.pancanal.com/eng/index.html or for a detailed study of the effects of the expansion visit: http://www.pancanal.com/eng/index.html.