New Orleans Metroplitan Inland Waterway Container Transport (IWCT) Feasibility Study

摘要

The continued growth in freight movements within the U.S land transportation network has reached a point where alternative means of augmenting its capacity should be investigated. Market demand factors such as door-to-door and just-in-time delivery have contributed to the strong growth in both road and rail transport sectors. This heavy reliance on ground transport has resulted in increased traffic congestion, worsened bottlenecks throughout the network, road deterioration, air pollution, highway accidents, and fuel consumption. The integration of the inland waterway network into our current intermodal transportation system could serve as an alternative to long haul freight movements and alleviate some of these negative impacts. The U.S. Department of Transportation and the Maritime Administration (MARAD) have recently placed new importance on shifting freight movements, particularly containers, to the nations waterways by creating a priority federal program: North American Marine Highways. MARAD hopes to demonstrate that the nations inland waterways can serve as an additional transportation system for container transport to relieve congestion and reduce demand on landside intermodal connectors and highway infrastructure. This study has analyzed successful Inland Waterway Container Transport (IWCT) systems in Europe and existing IWCT services in select U.S. locations. Further, it has assessed the feasibility of IWCT within the Mississippi River trade corridor. The study addresses the potential benefits of IWCT in the US as identified in the literature review. It also explains the challenges and limiting factors which have inhibited the development IWCT to date. Finally, this study examines the differences between IWCT development in the US and in Europe, where IWCT is a small but rapidly growing and successful sector of certain freight networks. Based on the analysis and findings, this study seeks to guide policy and future investment decision-making by the Regional Planning Commission, the Metropolitan Planning Organization for the New Orleans region, as well as the Louisiana legislature and selected departments in state government. The study also highlights the resiliency factors associated with inland waterway transportation at the local, state and national levels.