Horizon Lines’ Raymond backs funding for short sea shipping
Calling short sea shipping a means to “revitalize American maritime and shipbuilding industries,” Charles (Chuck) Raymond, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Horizon Lines, a U.S.-flag ocean carrier, said U.S. freight demand will swamp any increase in highway or rail capacity.
Building more highways would cost $32 million a mile and rail trade is about $1 million a mile, not including land costs, Raymond noted. “Clearly, this will overwhelm any practical increase in highway or rail in terms of time, financial and environmental resources,” he told a short-sea shipping conference on Hilton Head Island, S.C.
Raymond called for the creation of a loan guarantee plan akin to the U.S. Maritime Administration’s Title XI program to provide start-up services for short sea shipping initiatives in the U.S
“The European Union has been aggressively using short-sea shipping as a competitive part of its transportation network for over 10 years,” Raymond explained.
In Europe, “more than 44 percent of all freight movements are waterborne. Officials have placed short-sea shipping, in coordination with rail and highway modes, at their top of their transportation agendas to ease their own surface congestion,” he said.
Horizon Lines’ Raymond backs funding for short sea shipping
