Assessing the capacity of the Pacific Northwest as an intermodal freight transportation hub.

Details

• Creators:
  Vergara, Hector A. ; Ghane-Ezabadi, Mohammad ; Rahanjam, Mehrdad
• Corporate Creators:
  Oregon State University
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Dept. of Transportation. Research and Innovative Technology Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Intermodal transportation
  • Travel demand
  • Hubs
  • Ports
  • Railroads
  • Shipper demand
  • Stakeholders
  • Container traffic
• Publication/ Report Number:
  2013-S-OSU-0036
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium
• Abstract:
  This project synthesizes information from multiple sources about the capacity of the Pacific Northwest region to handle intermodal ; freight transportation demand. The findings from this research are intended to be used as a framework to start a research program ; focusing on the planning decision making needs of stakeholders in the region. The major sources of information about intermodal ; capacity were published reports from different stakeholders, online resources, and information obtained through conversations with a ; small set of stakeholders. Information about the current and future demand for intermodal freight transportation in the region was ; obtained from the FAF3 database of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and complemented by information available in ; published reports. The analysis of the current and future gap between capacity and demand for intermodal freight transportation was ; completed using the Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) approach to develop a more complete understanding of ; the factors affecting the development and expansion of intermodal freight transportation in the region. Although the accuracy of the ; quantitative data cannot be considered very high, general trends can be analyzed. Most of the intermodal freight flow in the region is ; containerized cargo that visits the main marine ports: Port of Seattle, Port of Tacoma, and at a smaller scale Port of Portland. Other port ; terminals that are able to handle intermodal freight flow exist in the region but represent a small portion of the total flow. Burlington ; Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway and Union Pacific (UP) Railroad have dedicated intermodal terminals in the region providing ; service for truck-road intermodal transportation, and rail connectivity to marine ports is also available. An analysis of the difference ; between intermodal capacity and demand at an aggregate level indicates that the current infrastructure is able to handle the existing ; demand for containerized international freight flow in the region. However, different scenarios of demand growth show that if capacity ; expansion does not occur, the existing capacity will not be sufficient to satisfy the demand in the future. Main factors affecting the ; perception of stakeholders about the level of service and future expansion of intermodal freight transportation in the region include ; highway congestion in the major metropolitan areas, lack of other generators and receivers of intermodal freight flow, coordination ; between different stakeholders, and limited availability of ocean carriers providing service to the Port of Portland.
  More +
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  DTRT12-UTC10
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/29521/dot_29521_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.71 MB]
• Collection(s):
  University Transportation Centers ; US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:fda2c2d2f26295a7762db8fa979c4856350763facf3d2ba4955d6c0ac08c9eda