Industry and government continue to be concerned about the capacity of ports and intermodal terminals- and the highways rail lines, and waterways that serve them- to handle steadily increasing volumes of intermodal traffic, especially containerized freight. The volume of intermodal freight traffic is growing significantly. The number of intermodal containers moving through ports worldwide doubled during the 1990s, and intermodal air freight, intermodal traffic on U.S. railroads, and the volume of intermodal freight moved by truck grew apace. Volumes are expected to double again over the next decade.

One strategy that may mitigate the effects of congestion and effectively increase the capacity available to freight shipments is to expand the use of coastal shipping (aka “short-sea feeder”) services. Short-sea feeder services are barge or ship services that carry containers between large marine hubs and satellite marine ports. Where containers can be moved economically and reliably by short-sea feeder services, the services may reduce the need for parallel truck or rail moves, and help relieve highway and rail congestion.

The US Maritime Administration (MARAD) has focused efforts on investigating ways the US marine transportation system can be used to more effectively manage freight growth and provide an effective alternative to the landside transportation system. Through its work on the Multi-Modal Port Access Project, the Coalition identified opportunities for increased utilization of the region’s inland and coastal waterways, including short- sea and coastal shipping  The Coalition's Short-Sea and Coastal Options Study provided an opportunity for the Coalition to engage shippers, carriers, manufacturers, and industry groups in identifying the issues surrounding short-sea/coastal shipping and passenger ferry services and begin to evaluate the feasibility of employing such strategies on the East Coast. 

The Phase II effort has initially focused on the development of comments to USDOT's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (view document) for "America's Marine HIghway System" and the development of an application (view document with introduction letter to the USDOT/Maritime Administration) on behalf of the I-95 Corridor Coalition membership for designation of the Corridor region from Maine to Florida under "America's Marine Highway Program" has a "Marine Highway Corridor".

Procurement Agency:  Maryland State Highway Administration
Project Contact:  Marygrace Parker
Freight, Mobility, Safety & Security Coordinator
I-95 Corridor Coalition
Phone: (518) 852-4083
E-mail: i95mgp@ttlc.net

The objective of the original study was to complement existing short-sea studies conducted by MARAD, the National Ports and Waterways Institute, and the I-95 Corridor Coalition by providing a better understanding of the market (i.e., demand) for domestic short-sea shipping services in the Coalition region. Specifically, this project:

• Identiied and engaged a range of domestic short-sea shipping stakeholders, including state DOTs and MPOs;
• Identifed the specific commodity types and traffic lanes that could be amenable to domestic short-sea shipping operations;
• Identified existing domestic short-sea operations, market share, and lessons learned to better understand why these services may not be used to their full potential;
• Conduct dea baseline travel-time/cost analysis, to better assess the competitiveness of short-sea shipping compared to the truck and rail modes; and
• Developed recommendations, to guide further development of MARAD’s short-sea shipping initiative, help determine the role of the I-95 Corridor Coalition and its member agencies in addressing domestic short-sea shipping issues, and develop criteria for use in selecting potential sites for domestic short-sea shipping demonstration projects.

The objective of the Phase II study is to build on the results of the Short-Sea and Coastal Shipping Options study  to better understand the feasibility of,  and interest in advancing the short-sea shipping concept by key stakeholders in the Coalition region.

View PDF file of Scope for Phase I (11-5D)
View Scope of Work of project 14-5D

No data

A Phase II Short-Sea and Coastal Options Study was identified as a follow up activity in te to further identify options to advance use of this mode in the Corridor.  As this effort was underway, "America's Marine Highway Program" was announced by USDOT.  In response to this announcement and proposed rulemaking, the Coalition focused the Phase II work  on the development of comments to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and submitted an application on behalf of the I-95 Corridor members to request designation of the I-95 Corridor region from Maine to Florida as a "Marine Highway Corridor".

No data.