newsworthy
Transportation System National Advisory Council,
LaHood said the country “must find ways to take better
advantage of our existing waterways” to reduce its dependence on foreign oil, reduce congestion and emissions, and
create an alternative to the cost of building and maintaining
highway systems.
The Maritime Administration, an agency within the
Department of Transportation, has teamed up with carriers, maritime labor, and academia to launch a marine highways cooperative to promote the greater use of coastal shipping. Noel P. Comeaux, an analyst in MarAd’s Office of
Marine Highways and Passenger Services, says the cooperative is signing up on average one new member per year.
“We’re still in the education process,” he says.
Getting shippers on board
The marine highway concept is not new. There are an estimated 25 short-sea shipping services across the United
States. These services cover traffic-congested regions like
the Northeast and areas like the Pacific Northwest-Alaska
trades, where highway transport may not be viable.
If marine highways are to be fully embraced, however,
backers must get users of transportation services to buy
into the plan. So far, that has been a struggle. “We need
shippers, and we need 3PLs (third-party logistics companies),” admitted Mark Yonge, acting chair of the Marine
Highways Cooperative, at a recent conference in Atlanta.
Yonge says shippers and 3PLs have yet to be convinced
that a marine highway system will help them meet their
customers’ demanding and precise delivery targets. Peter J.
Gatti, executive vice president of the shipper group
; Built Penske tough. Penske Logistics has received the
Ford Motor Co. Silver World Excellence Award for providing
outstanding logistics service. This is the second time
Penske Logistics has been honored with a Ford World
Excellence Award.
Penske Logistics has also earned Eastman Chemical Co.’s
Supplier Excellence award. Penske provides Eastman with
supply chain optimization solutions, including contract carriage and inbound freight management.
accolades
; Continuous improvement. Toyota North American Parts
Organization (NAPO) has honored YRC Worldwide with its
Kaizen Challenge Award for continuous improvement for
the second consecutive year. YRC Worldwide earned the
award for its plan to improve delivery efficiency for oversized and heavy parts from DCs and vendors to Toyota
dealers throughout the country.
National Industrial Transportation League, adds that the
biggest challenge in making marine highways work is the
cost and time involved in transloading cargo between
barges and truck or rail.
Gatti says the service will rise or fall not on its ability to
ease road congestion or pollution but on its economic
value. “It really comes down to the economics of the movement and the needs of the shippers,” he says.
Peter V. Stone, principal in the consultancy IHS Global
Insight, says marine highway services can succeed only on
longer lengths of haul and if there are sufficient containers
aboard each barge tow to make it cost effective. Stone estimates
that at least 175 containers need to be tendered daily per barge
in each direction in order for the service to be viable.
“The bottom line is how you divert traffic to a system like
this,” Stone says. “Not every commodity can take a chance
on slower transit times, but some can.”
Kevin R. Mack, vice president of Columbia Corp., a Liberty
Corners, N.J.-based company that operates short-sea services in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, says trucking rates on
many corridors are so low that it would make little economic sense to consider even an inexpensive shipping alternative
like barge transport. Mack urged Congress to offer tax credits to encourage shippers to divert cargo to water.
Mack adds that Columbia has in recent months held preliminary discussions with truckload giants J.B. Hunt
Transport Services Inc. and Schneider National Inc. about
shifting containerized shipments to waterborne transport.
Mack says the companies expressed some interest, but that
is as far as the talks have progressed. ;
—Mark Solomon
; When the chips are up.
Frito-Lay has named C.H.
Robinson its Inbound Supplier
of the Year for excelling in
service and execution. C.H.
Robinson has worked with
Frito-Lay for over 16 years.
; Water works. The Containerization and Intermodal
Institute will honor James McKenna, president of the Pacific
Maritime Association (PMA), and Robert McEllrath, president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union
(ILWU), with its 2009 Connie Award. The annual award recognizes individuals for their influence on containerization
in worldwide trade and transportation. The PMA, an association of ocean carriers and terminal operators, negotiates
labor agreements with the ILWU.
