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Welcome by Sandy Baruah Helping States Encourage Exporting Building Businesses on the Border Trade Adjustment Assistance: Helping Firms Compete in the Global Economy World Trade Centers: Gateways to the Global Marketplace The U.S. – Mexico Border: Integrated Economies A Sea Change in Ocean Shipping Intermodal Opportunities in Appalachia America’s Dependence on Flight-by-Night Operators Making Charlotte an International City  Subscribe
About Economic Development America
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Intermodal Opportunities in Appalachia (cont.)
The use of containers in international traffic has generated tremendous growth in container movement through U.S. ports. Indeed, the Association of American Railroads estimates that total railroad container traffic has grown at an average rate of 8.6 percent per year between 1988 and 2000, with most of this growth attributable to international traffic. Reflecting this transition, intermodal transport has now surpassed coal as the largest single revenue source for America’s railroad industry, demonstrating how rail is becoming an increasingly important link within the global supply chain. Appalachia can play a strategic role in getting goods between key ocean ports, including New York/New Jersey, Norfolk, Charleston, Savannah, Gulfport and Mobile, and the nation’s Midwest and southeastern regions. One way of strengthening the land-bridge concept is through inland ports. Inland ports provide short-haul rail movement to shuttle containers away from crowded port facilities to less congested inland sites for processing and transfer to other rail and truck services. The Virginia Port Authority has already developed the successful Virginia Inland Port (VIP) at Front Royal as an inland satellite to its traditional ocean port facilities in the Norfolk/Newport News area. In addition to the VIP, Huntsville (Alabama) International Airport’s International Intermodal Center also demonstrates how a fully coordinated intermodal center can attract significant economic and employment success. Elsewhere, South Carolina is exploring the potential of establishing inland ports linked to the marine terminals of the Port of Charleston. As the inland port at Front Royal demonstrates, it is not necessary that such facilities be located in urban areas with large populations. In fact, rural locations may offer important advantages. First, the lack of local roadway congestion reduces overall transportation times and costs. In addition, cost-attractive land is often available, making initial construction and future expansion highly attractive.While these inland ports improve transportation efficiencies, they also serve as economic magnets, drawing commerce to the surrounding region. Finally, another approach to inland port centers demonstrates how global air cargo can be integrated with other, more traditional modes. One of the nation’s best examples of this concept is located at Huntsville International Airport. This mixed-use complex comprises Huntsville International Airport (HSV), the International Intermodal Center (IIC), and Jetplex Industrial Park. Huntsville International Airport, in conjunction with the IIC, provides the Port of Huntsville with comprehensive aviation, rail, highway and sea intermodal connectivity, including key ocean port links to and from Gulf, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts. The Port of Huntsville offers an excellent example of how the ARC region can diversify and strengthen its economic base through improved links with the global logistics network.
Should container-on-barge service emerge along the region’s inland waterway system, the Appalachian highway system can serve as an important connection to new intermodal truck/barge terminals. Two important factors may contribute to the future commercial viability of limited container-on-barge operations. First, as noted, increased globalization is taxing the nation’s ability to handle container traffic over existing ports. This may result in the use of barges for shuttle movements to inland ports – much as is being done between the Port of New York/New Jersey and its satellite port at Albany, New York. Second, increased globalization is leading to the use of container shipping for lower-value commodities that are not as time-sensitive as more highly valued goods. Thus, it may be possible to use barge transport in more extensive movements of containers carrying less valuable commodities. Efforts to launch these new intermodal services are already underway in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and at several other locations within the ARC region. As with rail and inland port facilities, the highway system is essential in linking these emerging intermodal centers to and from the region’s businesses. |
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