The U.S. Maritime Administration said the grants will support five initiatives designed to transport freight on rivers to help relieve congestion on highways and reduce diesel pollution from trucks.
The U.S. Maritime Administration (MarAd) on Wednesday announced $4.85 million in grants to support five initiatives designed to transport freight on rivers to help relieve congestion on highways and reduce diesel pollution from trucks.
The grants will help expand three existing marine highway operations across New York Harbor; operations along the Mississippi River between New Orleans, La. and Memphis, Tenn.; and on the James River between Richmond and the Port of Norfolk in Virginia.
One grant will support a demonstration project between St. Louis and Chicago and the other grants will help regional officials study a potential commuter ferry service between Virginia and Washington that can also be used by trucks, and a container-on-barge service along the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Minneapolis, Minn.
MarAd awarded the first round of Marine Highway Grants six years ago as part of its effort to stimulate cargo diversion to coastal and inland waterways, especially barge services that haul containers. But the short-sea shipping mode, as some refer to it, has proven problematic to jumpstart without government subsidies because most shippers have been reluctant to sacrifice speedier transit times and the lack of dedicated port infrastructure for seamless transfer of containers from trucks to barges.
One of the most successful container-on-barge shuttle services in the nation is the James River Express managed by the Virginia Port Authority.
In fiscal year 2016, the barge service transported 16,347 containers between Richmond and the deep-water terminals in Norfolk and Portsmouth – up 16 percent from the prior year and 45 percent from two years ago. The container-on-barge operation runs three times per week, with an average of 200 container moves per week. MarAd’s $476,748 grant will support the purchase of a plug-in generator and other capabilities to allow carriage of refrigerated containers by barge, as detailed in American Shipper’s magazine story last month, “Port of Virginia kicks investment plans into high gear.” The service is already removing more than 15,000 truck trips per year from Interstate 64.
MarAd also issued grants to:
• The Port of Baton Rouge and the Port of New Orleans Container on Barge ($1.76 million), sponsored by the Greater Port of Baton Rouge. The Memphis/Baton Rouge/New Orleans shuttle service is a regularly-scheduled container on barge service that caters to exports moving from the Baton Rouge area to the Port of New Orleans, where the containers are loaded onto vessels. The new service is designed to collect empty containers in Memphis and transport them to Baton Rouge to meet customer demand for chemical industry exports. The service provides exporters with new, more efficient transportation options, and offers a waterway alternative to re-position empty equipment that would otherwise move via truck or rail. The operation, which will commence with five barges per week, could potentially eliminate about 12,500 truck trips each year.
• The Illinois Container on Barge Shuttle Project ($713,000), sponsored by America’s Central Port in Granite City, Ill. The Illinois Container on Barge Shuttle is an 18-month demonstration project to provide shuttle service for agricultural customers moving containerized exports between southern and northern Illinois to access the Union Pacific and BNSF rail ramps. The shuttle service will operate on the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers between Channahon and Granite City, Ill., with an option to extend container-on-barge service to the Gulf of Mexico ports in concert with related Marine Highway Designation.
• The New York Harbor and Container and Trailer on Barge Service ($1.6 million), sponsored by The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The New York Harbor Container and Trailer on Barge is an existing service that operates in New York Harbor between Red Hook Container Terminal in Brooklyn, N.Y., to the Red Hook Barge Terminal in Newark, N.J. The grant will be used to purchase infrastructure that will support improved barge operations and the creation of a crane operator training center that will boost safety and container throughput.
• The M-55/M-35 Container on Barge Project ($96,000), sponsored by the City of St. Louis Port Authority, along with three partners: Inland Rivers Ports & Terminals, Inc. (IRPT), Mississippi Rivers Cities & Towns Initiative (MRCTI), and Upper Mississippi River Basin Association (UMRBA). Funding will support planning efforts focused on the development of containerized shipping along the Mississippi River, between New Orleans, Minneapolis and Chicago.
• The M-495 Potomac River Commuter Ferry Project ($173,361), sponsored by the Northern Virginia Regional Commission. Funding is being provided to support planning efforts focused on the development of a new commuter ferry service on the Potomac River. If fully developed, the M-495 Potomac River Commuter Ferry could reduce existing congestion on highways and interstates by providing commuters and shippers with more transportation choices between Northern Virginia and the District of Columbia.
MarAd awards $4.85m for marine highways
