A recent NCHRP study (Project 20-24 [52]) estimates that the U.S. population will grow from 300 million to 380 million by 2035 and that the underlying economy will expand even faster. To support this growth according to the study, freight transportation will almost double. As incomes rise, people and businesses use more transportation. Yet, widespread highway and rail transportation congestion already extracts enormous costs in lost revenue and wasted time and fuel because the nation has neither invested enough in new transportation infrastructure, nor used existing infrastructure efficiently.
For example, the United States has an abundance of navigable rivers, lakes, canals, seaways, and coastal waterways. While this marine highway system (often referred to as short sea shipping) is used to move billions of tons of freight each year, a tremendous amount of capacity is unused. Greater use of the marine highway system capacity could reduce major choke points on highways and railroads, reduce fuel consumption, and reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. For instance, the U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration, states that a marine barge carrying 456 containers would use 75 barrels of oil, while the 456 trucks that would be required to move the same cargo would use 645 barrels of oil.
However, there are significant barriers and constraints — ranging from governmental policy and regulations to inadequate landside access — that currently preclude the widespread and efficient use of the North American marine highway system. Better insight is needed to understand the underlying reasons for the underutilization of the marine highway system.
The objective of the research is to produce a white paper that evaluates the potential for moving intermodal containers, containers on chassis, non-containerized trailers, or rail cars on marine highways in North America. The research will assess the conditions for feasibility, identify barriers (e.g., economic, technical, regulatory, and logistical), and propose solutions for barrier elimination.
(1). Identify and analyze the successes and failures of past and existing North American marine highway operations. Highlight the key factors for success in global marine highway investment and operations in order to gain insights for applicability to North America. Review and synthesize recent (since 1980) literature on marine highways, focusing on success factors and reasons for failure. (2). Identify and assess the impact of current barriers and constraints on successful adoption of marine highway shipping operations. Examples include, but are not limited to, lack of available, applicable marine vessels; varied capital investment challenges for both the public and private sectors; insufficient marine transportation infrastructure; federal, state, and local regulations; environmental concerns; and shipper economics. Propose strategies to overcome barriers and constraints. (3). Identify the necessary conditions for success (e.g., freight flows, shipper requirements, population density, port and terminal infrastructure and location, labor, and relevant modal competition) and evaluate the feasibility of expanded North American marine highway operations. Conduct a webinar with the panel to review progress to date. (4). Discuss public policy implications for marine highway shipping, including pros and cons, that could be used as a resource for the development of a national freight transportation policy. The discussion should include any existing multi-modal comparative analyses from a public and private capital investment perspective. (5). Submit a white paper (i.e., the final report) with executive summary, that documents the entire research effort, contains full citations in an appendix, explains and justifies conclusions, provides background information used in the development of conclusions that address deficiencies, and recommends further research. The report shall also contain an electronic presentation of the highlights of the study that is intended for decisionmakers.
