In an effort to reduce congested interstate highways, the US Maritime Administration (MARAD) is soliciting applications for new marine highways that could be used to transport freight.
The move comes as officials seek alternatives to trucking, which has been criticized for causing crowding on highways and interstates, for being environmentally non-sustainable, and for being too costly when gas prices are high.
Using barges and smaller cargo ships to transport products via inland waterways and coastal routes may be less efficient that truck, rail or air transport, but it may be cheaper as well.
Rules Changed to Encourage More Proposals
MARAD is so convinced that marine highways are the transportation mode of the future that the agency recently dropped a requirement that proposed new routes have parallel landside routes.
“Eligible projects should establish new or enhance existing Marine Highway services that reduce landside congestion and increase the use of domestic marine transportation,” MARAD official wrote in a news release announcing the search. “Proposed projects no longer have to have parallel landside routes. While all applications must be sponsored and submitted by public entities, public/private partnerships are encouraged.”
Seeks to Ease Congestion, Pollution
The drive for more marine highways began in 2010, when then-Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood unveiled the effort to shift freight from highways to waterways. The purpose of the program is to identify rivers and coastal routes — especially those near busy ports — that can carry cargo efficiently so road congestion and greenhouse gasses can be reduced.
Under LaHood’s leadership, a $58 million grant program sponsored by the Transportation Department was created to fund the search, with another $7 million in grants added in 2010.
Cheaper But Slower
The downside of maritime shipping is that it is slower than other forms of transportation. But with proper planning, shippers can often safe significant transportation costs by using inland barges and other vessels to move cargo. Currently, marine highways are under-capacitized, especially when compared to rail and road freight routes.
Yet most shippers rely primarily on these more traditional routes. And when gas prices are low, that may make the most economic sense, according to John Larkin, an analyst for the Stifel Nicolaus consulting firm.
“Short sea shipping appears to be gaining more attention from carriers, shippers and those in Washington, but it remains a viable shipping alternative only for a small portion of domestic freight,” Larkin wrote in a recent report. “In addition, it is clear to us that short sea shipping is not an economically attractive alternative in most lanes, at least at current fuel prices and without government subsidies. We view short sea shipping as an alternative that may become more attractive during periods of tight truckload capacity and/or high fuel prices.