Recent Changes in Costs of Shipping Forest Products by Rail

摘要

Costs for shipping lumber, plywood, and paper by rail are used by the USDA Forest Service in periodic timber assessments to measure the average cost of transporting forest products from producing locations to the point of final consumption. The Staggers Rail Act of 1980 authorized deregulation of the Nation's railroads. The purposes of the study were to determine whether changes in transportation costs have occurred since deregulation and to analyze the effects of deregulation on transportation costs between regions. The effects of the Staggers Rail Act on rail freight rates and services offered to this sector of the U.S. timber economy are discussed, as are changes in comparative advantages for the various regions. Results for these transportation costs indicated that some changes have occurred since passage of the Staggers Rail Act, although changing economic conditions may have also affected these costs.