Think. Learn. Succeed.

Surface Congestion Reduction Analysis & Modeling (SCRAM) Team:

Karen DavisGreg HaubnerJames Hingst

Bill JudgeChris Zalewski

Marine Highway SystemA Multimodal Short Sea Freight Shipping System

OR 680, Spring 2010

Background• GDP has grown exponentially in recent years, largely as a result

of international trade• Places huge burden on domestic transportation systems to keep

up• Expected volume of trucks on Interstate Highway System is expected to

double between now and 2035

• Trucks account for 40% of the time Americans spend in traffic• Additionally, in 2007, 60% of federal highway funding went

towards maintenance, vice new construction• The solution? – DOT established a framework to provide federal

support to expand the use of America’s Marine Highways

Limited Highway Capacity + Road Maintenance Costs + Traffic Congestion = Marine Highways

OR 680, Spring 2010

Port-Related Distribution Facilities in VA

CSC/AMCMODELING & SIMULATION

MARINE OPERATIONSMULTIMODAL SYSTEMS

RUTGERS/CAITSFREIGHT TRAFFIC ANALYSIS

INTERMODAL SYSTEMS

THE I-95 COALITIONVIRGINIA DOT

VIRGINIA PORT AUTHORITY NEWYORK/NEWJERSEY PORT AUTHORITY

DLR - GERMAN TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH CENTER

SHORT SEA SHIPPING CRS & SI APPLICATIONS

GEOEYEWORLD LEADERS IN IMAGERIES

CRS&SI DATA SYTEMS

GMUCRS&SI TECH APPLICATIONSINFRASTRUCTURE SYSTEMS

FREIGHT ANALYSIS

The GMU Consortium Team• The GMU Consortium team is tasked with analyzing feasibility of implementing Marine Highway Systems along the I-95 corridor

• The potential of applying MHS system in waterways from the commonwealth of Virginia ports is shown to illustrate the approach the GMU consortia will take to examine and select appropriate waterway for MHS implementation

OR 680, Spring 2010

Marine Highway System for Alternate Transportation

Warehouse(origin)

Warehouse(destination)

Seaor

Road

• Traffic Projections predict “landslide congestion”

• Adding highway capacity is not sufficient for stemming congestion

• DOT and Congress are seeking viable alternatives to highways

• SCRAM will:• Select one inland and one marine route

that will serve to reduce traffic bottlenecks in and around I-95 and explore options for moving fright traffic to marine highways

• Metrics will include:• Costs, energy consumption, time,

congestion, efficiency, air quality improvements

OR 680, Spring 2010

Our Tasking:• Build a scalable, discrete-

event based simulation• Estimate reduction of

surface route congestion• Perform cost comparison of

marine and surface routes• Compare end-to-end

transportation time using marine and surface routes

• Estimate any environmental benefits

Requirements Definitions

Considerations:• Deep water channels• Terminal capacity• Nearby road and rail feed

lines• Large capacity marine

terminals• Competitive advantage over

roadways• Costs• Time

OR 680, Spring 2010

Preliminary Approach• Design a discrete event simulation

using Arena to simulate the road and sea networks• Potentially also use MPL to optimize

the network

• Track costs, resource usage, time, and tonnage moved

• Goal is to gain specific and general insights to the benefits of a marine highway system

LoadShip

Origin

Destination

At Sea

UnloadShip

RoadNetwork

Seaor

Road

OR 680, Spring 2010

Expected Results

• Quantitative benefits and/or shortfalls of the two studied routes, including:

– Congestion reduction– Fuel savings– Freight movement efficiency

• Qualitative generalizations of key characteristics of marine highways, What does and does not matter?

• Discrete event simulation that can be adapted for further study of Marine Highway alternatives

• Policy recommendations

OR 680, Spring 2010

Project Plan - Three Phase Approach• Data Collection (bounding analysis)

• Cost, efficiency, demand• Compose list marine highway alternatives for study

• Simulation & Analysis• Inland Waterway

– Routing from the Port of Virginia terminals through James River to Parham Landing

• Coastal Waterway– Sea route from the Ports of Virginia

• Last Mile Analysis– Port access ways in selected ports

• Assessment/Report Preparation

OR 680, Spring 2010

Notional Schedule

OR 680, Spring 2010

Backup

OR 680, Spring 2010

References

• United State Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration, Marine Highway Program web site:

http://www.marad.dot.gov/ships_shipping_landing_page/mhi_home/mhi_home.htm

OR 680, Spring 2010

Email GuidanceAgain, the goal of your project is to investigate the feasibility of

marine highway. Hopefully, we can reduce I-95 congestion. The SEORfaculty will expect you to apply OR methodologies to a real problemlike this. My role is more like a technical advisor. I will give youadvice if you encounter "big" technical difficulty. More importantly,Dr. Thirumalai is your primary contact of the client. You should meetwith him routinely and frequently, at least monthly, to give him anupdate and ensure that you are handling a "real" and right problem.(OR students tend to over simplify problems). Dr. Chen, 8 Feb 10

The team will be able to get lot of background information by visiting DOT/MARAD website and look under the Marine Highway program. There are marine highway corridors being proposed to Congress by both US DOT and the I-95 Corridor coalition . One important involvement for the team will be to select one inland and on sea way routing that will serve to reduce traffic bottlenecks in and around I-95 and explore options for moving fright traffic to marine highways. As we discussed discrete element analysis tools would be very handy to assess the advantages. Dr. Thirumalai, 6 Feb 10