News & Reviews News Wire Hurricane’s passing enables railroads, ports, to resume certain operations in the Southeast NEWSWIRE

Hurricane’s passing enables railroads, ports, to resume certain operations in the Southeast NEWSWIRE

By Mike Landry | September 5, 2019

| Last updated on November 3, 2020

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Shut down by Hurricane Dorian since Saturday, Florida East Coast Railway officials say limited operations were to begin today, Sept. 5.

Pending the approval from maintenance and signal crews, operations would be underway at the north and south ends of the railroad with full restoration of service expected on Friday.

By Wednesday, FEC’s Fort Lauderdale and Hialeah intermodal ramps were again handling truck and container traffic. Fort Pierce and Titusville ramps were slated to resume operation by the end of the day Wednesday with Jacksonville-Bowden back in service by 6 a.m. Eastern time today.

Also Wednesday, Kansas City Southern lifted its embargo of FEC-bound intermodal traffic from its Wylie, Texas, ramp.

Norfolk Southern and CSX Transportation officials say they are continuing to monitor the hurricane situation and tell shippers to expect delays and re-routings.

Early this morning, Dorian continued to affect the coast of the Carolinas. At 6 a.m. Eastern time, Dorian’s center was about 60 miles east of Savannah, Ga., as heavy squalls began to affect the southern tip of North Carolina, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm, with 115-mph winds, was moving north at 7 mph.

In Florida, the Port of Palm Beach re-opened Wednesday and officials were preparing relief operations for the storm-ravaged Bahamas; Port Canaveral opened with ship draft restrictions, and at Jaxport in Jacksonville, Fla., assessment was underway this morning to determine when the port could reopen.

Georgia Ports Authority officials say Savannah is closed until 6 a.m. Friday, although rail and terminal operations were slated to resume tonight. All Brunswick operations were to resume midday today.

In South Carolina, the ports of Charleston and Georgetown are to resume gate operations Friday morning while inland Port Dillon would resume all operations Friday morning.

In North Carolina, the Ports of Wilmington and Morehead City are closed through Friday.

At the Port of Virginia in Norfolk, the U.S. Coast Guard was to declare ship operations suspended beginning at 4 p.m. today, although port officials say truck and rail operations could continue at the discretion of port management.

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