Inland Waterway Operational Analysis Model

Currently, there is an opportunity to expand the business platform provided by the inland waterway infrastructure of the United States, especially in the eastern part of the country. Several factors have aligned to allow for this opportunity, including: (1) Anticipated completion of the Panama Canal expansion to accommodate larger ships; (2) Volatility and increases in the price of crude oil; (3) Environmental advantages of waterway shipments; (4) Increased government investment in inland waterways; (5) A need for meeting current capacity requirements for freight shipments; and (6) A need for enhancement and expansion of the nation's export infrastructure In order to capitalize on the opportunities that are currently within reach for the inland waterway system, it is critical to understand the operational characteristics of the river system and the many variables that affect the usage of the system. The purpose of this project is to develop a "real world" model for analyzing freight movements along inland waterways. In order to gain a better understanding of the inland waterway system, it is first critical to understand the operational capacity of the system given the changing conditions of infrastructure, port operation characteristics, barge/tow capabilities, and the river characteristics itself. Once the basic operational characteristics of the river are understood it is possible to further examine what potential changes can be made to increase usage of the system.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $213198.00
• Contract Numbers:

  312101

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Multimodal Transportation and Infrastructure Consortium

  Marshall University
  1900 3rd Avenue
  Huntington, WV  United States  25703
• Performing Organizations:

  University of Kentucky, Lexington

  Kentucky Transportation Center
  College of Engineering, 176 Raymond Building
  Lexington, KY  United States  40506-0281
• Principal Investigators:

  Kreis, Doug

• Start Date: 20120510
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 20140930
• Source Data: RiP Project 31909

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Exports; Freight traffic; Infrastructure; Inland water transportation; Ship operations
• Identifier Terms: Panama Canal
• Uncontrolled Terms: Expansion projects
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Marine Transportation; Terminals and Facilities;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01566194
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Multimodal Transportation and Infrastructure Consortium
• Contract Numbers: 312101
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Jun 12 2015 1:01AM