The Port of Baltimore is one of the busiest ports in the Mid Atlantic region. This article provides information related to business activities around Baltimore Harbor.
The year began with a series of winter storms and bitter cold weather. In January, U.S. Coast Guard Aids to Navigation Team Baltimore was active around Baltimore, breaking ice with a 49-foot Buoy Stern Loading (BUSL) boat.
In February, Maryland officials released statistics from the previous year for business activity in the Port of Baltimore:
The Port’s state-owned public marine terminals, along with its private terminals, handled 2,223 cargo vessel visits in 2025, surpassing the previous record of 2,137 ships set in 2023. The 2025 total represents a 21 percent increase over 2024.
A new record of 1,113,309 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) were moved through the Seagirt Marine Terminal last year, exceeding the 2023 record by more than 5,000. Representing the volume of a 20-foot-long intermodal shipping container, TEU a the standard unit of measurement in worldwide maritime trade and logistics.
In 2025, Seagirt Marine Terminal also set records for ship calls, or individual vessel visits, with 689. Ship calls in 2025 beat previous Seagirt record by nearly 100.
Weekly container services (regular, scheduled vessel routes) also increased to 15 in 2025.
The record setting year follows the port’s historic recovery in 2024 following the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse and coordinated effort to reopen the Fort McHenry shipping channel into the Port of Baltimore.
CSX Howard Street Tunnel Project
Maryland expects the Port’s container business is expected to grow further with the 2026 completion of the CSX Howard Street Tunnel Project, a $518 million initiative to modernize a 130-year-old freight tunnel in Baltimore.
The new freight tunnel will allow the port to accommodate double-stacked container trains, increasing the Port’s capacity, while increasing competitiveness with regional ports—expanding potential business opportunities.
The project is expected to increase the Port’s business by approximately 160,000 containers annually and generate nearly 14,000 jobs.
Additional Port of Baltimore 2025 Highlights:
On January 1, 2025, the Maryland Port Administration’s five-year contract extension with Carnival Cruise Line took effect. The agreement ensured that the world’s largest cruise line continued year-round service from Baltimore. Carnival has operated in Maryland since 2004, and offers five to 14-day cruises from Baltimore to destinations like the Bahamas, Bermuda, Caribbean and New England/Canada.
After a recent Coast Guard security assessment, the Port received its 16th consecutive top security rating for its state-owned public marine terminals, a recognition of its comprehensive physical and cybersecurity initiatives.
In recent years, the Maryland Port Administration has installed high-mast lighting and fencing, stronger gate and fence line conditions, additional signage, and other physical security equipment.
In November, the Port welcomed the Evergreen Ever Model, capable of carrying more than 15,000 twenty-foot-long containers. The ship was the second largest to ever call on the Port, an achievement that represents continuing business growth made possible by the port’s modernization, Baltimore’s 50-foot-deep channel, and supersized cranes at the Seagirt Marine Terminal.
The Maryland Port Administration worked with the Army Corps of Engineers to secure $72 million for design and construction of the Mid-Chesapeake Bay Environmental Restoration Project. The project, located by the James and Barren islands in western Dorchester County, is focused on restoring and expanding island habitat. The project will use dredged materials to provide hundreds of acres of wetland and terrestrial habitat for local wildlife.
Carnival Miracle Cruises Coming To Baltimore
In February, the Maryland Port Administration (MPA) announced a new two-year contract with Carnival Cruise Line that will bring the Carnival Miracle to the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore beginning in 2027.
The ship will operate seasonal cruises from November to April. Carnival Miracle is one of Carnival’s Spirit-class vessels and is similar in size to Baltimore’s current year-round ship, Carnival Pride.
The Carnival Miracle will complement the Carnival Pride by offering deeper explorations of Southern and Eastern Caribbean destinations like Aruba, Curacao, Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, and St. Maarten, along with additional 12 to 14-day voyages.
Last year, the Carnival Pride began operating under a new five-year contract with the MPA, sailing year-round from the Port of Baltimore to the Bahamas, Bermuda, Caribbean, and Greenland/Canada.
Carnival ships have sailed from Baltimore since 2004. In 2009, Carnival Pride became the first cruise line to launch a year-round schedule from Baltimore.
More than 400 jobs are generated by cruise activity in Maryland, including 220 direct jobs at the Port of Baltimore.
The Port of Baltimore’s cruise terminal is 2.5 miles from Baltimore’s world-famous Inner Harbor and 10 miles from BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport.
The Port of Baltimore’s cruise terminal has also been previously recognized for offering outstanding customer service to its passengers.
Port of Baltimore Economic Impacts
The Port of Baltimore generates approximately 20,300 direct jobs, with more than 273,000 jobs overall in Maryland linked to the Port, and an annual economic impact of more than $70 billion.
sources: Maryland Office of the Governor, Maryland Port Administration, U.S. Coast Guard
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