By Captain John C. Farmer Presented to: Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization Technical Committee meeting January 10, 2017
Tennessee freight / transportation studies
National and State freight goals: Improve economic efficiency, productivity and competitiveness. Reduce highway & rail congestion. Improve the safety, security and resilience. Reduce adverse environmental and community impacts.
The many benefits of barging: Economic Efficient Environmental Safe Six barges downbound in Knoxville
Barging economies: Shipping by barge is often 1/15 th the cost of truck shipping 120 100 80 60 Series1 40 20 0 Relative shipping costs Barge Rail Truck
Barging efficiencies: Barging consumes less fuel per Ton-mile 700 600 500 400 300 200 576 413 Series1 100 0 Ton-Miles per gallon of diesel fuel 155 Barge miles Rail miles Truck miles *Texas Transportation Institute study Texas A & M University
Barging environmental friendliness: Barging emits less pollutants per Ton-mile 0.80000 0.70000 0.60000 0.50000 0.40000 0.30000 Barge East Rail Tuck 0.20000 0.10000 0.00000 HC CO NOx PM *Texas Transportation Institute study
Barging safety record: Barging has a far better safety record 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Fatality comparison Barge Rail Truck Series1 *Texas Transportation Institute study
Barges and tows: A typical hopper barge is 195 long x 35 wide x 12 high. At a loaded draft of 9 it carries 1,500 Tons of material. A typical East Tennessee tow consists of up to nine barges pushed by one towboat. Tows run 24/7 with dual crews, 2.5 to 3 days from Chattanooga to Knoxville.
Barging congestion reduction One river barge can replace 58 tractor trailers on our already congested I-40/75, increasing the efficiency of the remaining truck freight transport. One river barge can replace 15 rail cars blocking rail crossings and increase the efficiency of the remaining rail car transport.
Marine Transportation Authority Knox County and East Tennessee need an Authority: To publicize and promote barging. To increase the area freight transport efficiency. To promote the proposed M-40/75 Marine Highway.
Marine highways & MARAD The United States Maritime Administration approves Marine Highways and provides grant money to expand and enhance them. M-65 uses the Tenn-Tom to connect Mobile with the Tennessee River.
M40/75 Marine Highway Corridor A group of interested citizens is proposing an M-40/75 Marine Highway Corridor utilizing the Tennessee River from the Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee state junction to Knoxville.
M40/75 Marine Highway Corridor service area Sheffield, AL Occidental Chemical docks Florence, AL Florence -Lauderdale Port Authority Decatur, AL Port of Decatur River Terminal Guntersville, AL American Commercial Terminals South Pittsburg, AL - Port of Nickajack Chattanooga, TN Marathon, ABB, ADM & Vulcan Oak Ridge, TN ORNL, TVA power plants Knoxville, TN Marathon, Ergon & Burkhart
An East Tennessee Marine Transportation Authority would: Improve area freight transportation efficiency and global competitiveness by: Promoting M-40/75 benefits and usage. Soliciting grant funds to enhance M-40/75 facilities. Serving as a marine liaison with TDOT and MARAD.
Existing barging facilities: The deepwater port of Mobile can receive container shipments at its APM multimodal container terminal. Burkhart Enterprises Marine Terminal in Knox County has Interstate and rail access. Many areas lack facilities but we already have a true multimodal terminal. It can load, offload and store bulk, container and overweight or oversize loads.
Burkhart Enterprises Container, rail & truck facilities
The Panama Canal expansion: Increases the size of container ships that can visit Mobile via the canal from 5,000 TUEs to 13,500 TUEs. US top importer of container cargo, 90% of non-bulk and China top exporter. Reduces the cost of inbound and outbound International container freight. Can provide Knox County opportunities for less expensive global freight transport.
Tennessee Dept. of Transportation: Is keenly aware of highway and rail freight transport issues and limitations. Already has a multimodal freight coordinator and a freight planner. Has a published State Freight Plan including marine transport.
US MARITIME ADMINISTRATION MARAD has a Gateway Director located in New Orleans and charged with assisting with marine transportation improvement in our area. Provides grants for marine transport enhancement. We are in close contact with Mr. James Murphy on a frequent basis for coordination of our efforts.
Help us grow our area. By forming and supporting an East Tennessee Marine Transportation Authority so we can: Increase freight transportation efficiency. Decrease highway congestion and pollution. Enhance the desirability of manufacturing expansion in the Knox County area.
and help grow and prosper the Knox County area of East Tennessee. Thanks for your interest. For further information see towboattout.com