Association of American Railroads
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) is an industry trade group representing primarily the major freight Rail transport, railroads of North America (Canada, Mexico and the United States). Amtrak and some regional Commuter rail in North Am ...
. The CGR is headquartered in Mobile, Alabama, and is owned and operated by a 50/50 joint venture between SEACOR Holdings and
Genesee & Wyoming
Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W) is an American short line railroad holding company, that owns or maintains an interest in 122 railroads in the United States, Canada, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom and formerly Australia. It operates ...
. The railroad operates an approximate
train ferry
A train ferry is a ship ( ferry) designed to carry railway vehicles. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to the wharves. In the United States, train ...
between the
Port of Mobile
The Port of Mobile is a deep-water port in Mobile, Alabama, United States. It is the only deep-water port in Alabama. It was ranked by the United States Army Corps of Engineers as the 9th largest port by tonnage in the nation during 2014, w ...
Coatzacoalcos
Coatzacoalcos () is a major port city in the southern part of the Mexican state of Veracruz, mostly on the western side of the Coatzacoalcos River estuary, on the Bay of Campeche, on the southern Gulf of Mexico coast. The city serves as the mun ...
,
Veracruz
Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...
. It began operations in 2000 out of Mobile, Alabama. In 2004 the railroad moved its American port to
Port of New Orleans
The Port of New Orleans is an embarkation port for cruise passengers. It is also Louisiana’s only international container port.
The port generates $100 million in revenue annually through its four lines of business – cargo (46%), rail (31%) ...
facility was heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In 2007 the Alabama State Port Authority agreed to construct a state of the art $19 million rail-ferry terminal at the Port of Mobile. The CGR connects with
CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...
,
Norfolk Southern
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31, ...
Canadian National Railway
The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I railroad, Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern United States, M ...
, and Alabama and Gulf Coast Railway all at Mobile, Alabama, and Ferrocarril del Sureste at Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz.
The railroad operates two double deck rail-ferries. The vessels '' MV Cherokee'' and '' MV Banda Sea'' operate between the two ports up to four times a week. The Banda Sea had been originally built with a single cargo deck, the vessel was limited to carrying rail cars on its main deck. In 2004, CGR contracted Naval Architects Bennett & Associates to increase the Banda Sea's carrying capacity by adding a second deck. The Banda Sea is capable of carrying 115 railcars. Bennett & Associates also designed a bilevel adjustable
ramp
An inclined plane, also known as a ramp, is a flat supporting surface tilted at an angle from the vertical direction, with one end higher than the other, used as an aid for raising or lowering a load. The inclined plane is one of the six clas ...
at each dock to allow rail cars to be loaded on both decks. Railcar loading and unloading is performed by the Terminal Railway Alabama State Docks at Mobile and by Ferrocarril del Sureste at Coatzacoalcos. The railroad operates two trackmobiles at each port to help with loading and unloading of railcars.Terminal press release /ref>CG Railway Official Website /ref> The CGR transports approximately 10,000 railcars annually, carrying commodities such as chemicals & plastics, fructose & refined sugar, steel and pulp & paper.
Isthmus of Tehuantepec
The Isthmus of Tehuantepec () is an isthmus in Mexico. It represents the shortest distance between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. Before the opening of the Panama Canal, it was a major overland transport route known simply as t ...