Measuring the Resilience of Texas and Louisiana Ports Within the Context of the National Marine Transportation System

This project will develop methods to assess the connectivity and resilience of Gulf Coast ports, focusing on port-to-port cargo movements. Understanding port criticality is essential for prioritizing infrastructure maintenance and improvements, especially in the context of limited funding. Building on previous research by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Engineering Research and Development Center (ERDC), this study will utilize Automated Identification System (AIS) data and the PageRank algorithm, which ranks port importance based on network connectivity rather than conventional metrics like tonnage. In addition to the PageRank method, the study will explore other analytical tools, such as flow-based minimum cut and connectivity algorithms, to provide a more comprehensive assessment of the Marine Transportation System (MTS). Simplifying assumptions from ERDC’s work—such as using ship volume as a proxy for tonnage and accounting for international ports lacking AIS data—will enhance the accuracy and efficiency of the analysis. The study will characterize the MTS using the most recent AIS data and perform an in-depth analysis of port criticality, with a specific focus on the seaports of Texas and Louisiana, as they fall within the Southern Plains Transportation Center’s scope. The results will guide decisions on port maintenance, resilience, and major infrastructure improvements, contributing to a more robust and disaster-resilient port network. The following tasks will be executed: Task 1 involves developing the required network dataset. In Task 2 the research team will apply various algorithms to the various MTS network representation developed in Task 1. Additional insights gained from these algorithms versus using a tonnage-only evaluation will be discussed in Task 3. This task will also recommend potential use of the outputs from this study. Task 4 involves disseminating the study findings. The research team will provide a copy of the report to the ERDC study team that produced the previous report.

• Record URL:
  • https://www.sptc.org/cy2-tti-03

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $188,733.00
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3552348306

  CY2-TTI-03

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Southern Plains Transportation Center

  University of Oklahoma
  202 W Boyd St, Room 213A
  Norman, OK  United States  73019
• Project Managers:

  Dunn, Denise

• Performing Organizations:

  Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI)

  400 Harvey Mitchell Parkway South
  Suite 300
  College Station, TX  United States  77845-4375
• Principal Investigators:

  Kruse, James

  Glover, Brianne

• Start Date: 20241001
• Expected Completion Date: 20250930
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Disaster resilience; Identification systems; Network analysis (Planning); Seaports
• Identifier Terms: Marine Transportation System
• Geographic Terms: Gulf Coast (United States); Louisiana; Texas
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Marine Transportation; Terminals and Facilities;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01945967
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Southern Plains Transportation Center
• Contract Numbers: 69A3552348306, CY2-TTI-03
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Feb 13 2025 3:02PM