Scenario Analysis of Containerized Freight D istribution into the Midwest Region in Response to Capacity Expansions

摘要

The U.S. major ports receive more than 50% of total container freight from seven Asian trading partner countries and redistribute to the states. The Panama Canal and the port of Prince Rupert in Canada will double their capacity from 2015 and 2020 and assuming to change receiving calls at ports from current status. Based on the current container freight flow between the Asian countries and the U.S. states, two capacity expansion scenarios are additionally considered for optimal distribution of containerized cargo into the U.S. With a non-linear optimization process, import container cargo distributions into the Midwest Regions are estimated under current capacity and increased capacity for both the Panama Canal and Prince Rupert expansions. Scenario comparison resulted that the Panama Canal expansion changed flow into the Midwest Regions from the West and Gulf Coast ports, but Prince Rupert capacity increase affected little flow changes.