I think I actually said I am looking at the mid gulf and southern ports to potentially benefit, how much, and from where is the question.

I suspect there will be some diversion, and there will be some new traffic, but building a this doesn't change the underlying economics of trade and of the economies of transporting high value goods the extra distance from place like Asia that much. They didn't build the Ben Franklin by accident...so I wouldn't sell all of my UP or BHB just yet.

The US is a mature economy supporting an older population with high productivity and a slower growth curve, so is Europe. China is also slowing down to a more stable and sustainable rate of growth, as its economy is maturing. Others are growing though, like Viet Nam and India, but at moderate and more sustainable rates. South America, is again having economic problems, and low energy prices have slowed economic growth there. Those are the things that affect demand, and thus, the need to ship goods. So the canal is opening at a time of long term promise, but facing some short term economic sluggishness, in the major markets it is opening up to larger Panamax services,

It's the underlying economic expectations, and ultimately, those actual conditions that will drive the demand for trade; and that will determine the cost and relatively efficiency of shipping via the canal; not just capacity; and most likely not salesmanship skills of RR marketing departments.

The CSX, NS, maybe even the FEC may benefit, even quite a bit, if they are able to "market" an effective competitive service, schedule, and pricing plan, to effectively serve these smaller container ports. And, conversely, that will also depend on the demand the ports generate. They will need to generate enough traffic to achieve the economies of scale, to generate return on investment, from volume sufficient to achieve that "sweet spot".

Keep mining that ports data and that should give us a good indication over the next year.