The Benefits of Marine Transport

At this year's Global Greenship conference in Washington, DC, Andrew Riester of the Waterways Council, Inc. presented a summary of a paper, which the US National Waterways Foundation had co-sponsored. The Texas Transportation Institute did a "Modal Comparison of Freight Transportation Effects on the General Public", comparing US inland barge traffic with rail and road transport, which I believe can be used as a reference to the Eastern Canadian freight model, consisting of marine, truck ad rail.

According to the study, in the US 14% of intercity freight , valued at nearly $ 70 billion is transported on the inland waterways. I would guess, that the percentage of waterborne transport for Canadian inland waters is in the same range, if not nationally then regionally for the Great lakes St. Lawrence Seaway area.

What the study found was that a shift from marine to land based transport would double traffic on the Interstates and rail tonnage would increase 25%. To drive this point home, a hypothetical case study was done for St. Louis, assuming all marine freight there would shift to truck. In this scenario:

• Highway costs over 10 years would more than double
• Truck traffic on St. Louis Interstates would increase 200%
• Traffic delays would increase by 500%
• Injuries and fatalities on Interstate segments would increase from 36% to 45%
• Maintenance costs would increase 80% to 93%

I am wondering how the proposed ECA, if implemented for the Seaway System, would affect a mode shift from marine to land-based transport. The increase in cost from increased fuel costs will cause some shift in freight traffic from ship to truck or rail. With the traffic density already high on our highways, any additional trucks will cause an:

• Increase in Highway costs in the Windsor - Quebec corridor
• Increase in truck traffic
• Increase in traffic delays
• Increase in fatalities and injuries
• Increase in pollution from accidents

The ultimate question is then, how big is the net benefit of an ECA in the Seaway System?