Port of Baltimore

  Stardate 65743.4

The ceiling of the main port building

12:45 - With so many of the products that we use traveling across the borders, the average Jane/Joe knows little about how those products physically get to us. I could probably explain why they do with supply-chain theory and gravity models, but you would give up the coveted Focus Foxy title in a heartbeat. Mainly because your heart would stop beating due to boredom. What I have for you is cool.

For work, I and a few colleagues ventured over to Baltimore to visit their port. The Baltimore port is a mid-sized port compared to the likes of the ones in Louisiana, Texas and California. Their biggest import would be coal, and their biggest export is salt. Around the ports you will find mountains of minerals being transported around the world. If you added a bit of hot lava, the coal section looks like a ending scene out of Episode III. Fun fact, Focus Foxies, we actually export coal in vast quantities. So why do we import and export coal out of Baltimore/other ports? Fantastic question, Focus Foxies! The answer lies in the environmental laws. We like to burn imported clean coal, and other countries do not have laws against burning our dirty coal. Selling our bad assets off shore never came back to hurt us.

Cranes that can go 12 boxes deep!

Although Baltimore is a midsized port, the port itself can accept some pretty big ships, approximately 12 cargo boxes deep. They maintain that ability by dredging the port and bay areas. Sediment shift around and makes dredging necessary. In the future, the Panama Canal expansion will allow huge ships from China to come to Baltimore. To prepare for this, bigger ‘cranes’ that can unload boats with 20 boxes will be coming from China (of all places). Four of these cranes are coming, which costs $40 million.

A X-Ray Scanner that can 'see' thru 18 inches of steel

The security of the port is pretty tight. Check out the x-ray scanner to the left. It can see through 18 inches of steel. It runs off an ounce of cobalt and is completely self-contained. Also, every Port Officer has a  radiation sensor to be carried and on the whole time they are on the port grounds. One time, they found a cargo box that was setting off the radiation sensors. The cargo box was full of de-barked trees; most natural things have radiation, but not trees and especially not at the high levels reporting. The cargo was sent back to the exporting country. It turns out that these trees were cut down near the Chernobyl site. The exporter thought that since the trees did not have bark, they could be exported. So wrong, and so scary.

They filmed parts of Ladder 49 here

Another part of the port is the entry point in BWI airport. With flights landing in the U.S. in the afternoon, the port authorities have to check all the bags/people and determine if someone is a threat. Some of the more interesting finds are smoked bats/monkeys brought here as food and Grandmothers used as drug mules. I understand the need to get your home delicacies of small smoked animals to the US. Safeway does not really specialize in that. But, setting up your own Grandmother to carry your drugs for you? That’s low. Fun Fact #2, Focus Foxies traveling to Jamaica be forewarned. They get the most drug mules from Jamaica. If the security dog starts to sniff you, you are busted.

The work that goes into the Port of Baltimore is mind boggling. With so many records, threats, and firms’ well-being to keep track of, the Port of Baltimore takes care of a ton of business. I certainly learned more than I can contain and cannot wait to go back to ask more questions.