the 2011 rail conference: moving freight and passengers in the 21 st century seaports and freight...
TRANSCRIPT
The 2011 Rail Conference:Moving Freight and Passengers
in the 21st Century
Seaports and Freight Rail
Eric D. JohnsonExecutive DirectorWashington Public Ports Association
An Overview of Seaports: Governance
Nearly all of the nations major seaports are publically-owned enterprises The governance model varies:
Division of state Regional city organization Departments of cities Independent local governments
Operations:
Ports build and maintain the transportation infrastructure that enables water-borne commerce to move to and from highway and rail modes: Marine terminal docks Near-dock rail Near-dock roads Shipping channels
Business Models:
Lease land, buildings and equipment to private companies
Occasionally a port operates its own terminals Most ports subsidize these investments in
order to create jobs and regional prosperity
Overview of North America’s Rail Network:
We have competing gateways, especially for Mid-west cargo
Class I RailroadsUS Operations
Railroad U.S. Route Miles
Revenue Ton-Miles (billions)
Operating Revenue ($ millions)
Number of Employees
BNSF Railway (BNSF) 32,140 594 14,124 37,095
Union Pacific Railroad (UP) 32,094 479 14,117 47,117
CSX Corporation (CSX) 21,190 209 8,179 27,752
Norfolk Southern Corporation (NS) 20,623 159 7,969 28,323
Canadian National Rail Service (CN) 6,898 43 1,911 5,857
Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) 3,154 20 699 2,428
Kansas City Southern Railway Company (KCS) 3,076 29 860 2,735
*Association of American Railroads - Railroad Facts 2010 edition
National RailCommodity Flow
Port Related Canadian Commodities
Emerging Themes: Canadian Competition
Emerging Themes: Panama Canal widening (completed in 2014)
Eastern U.S. and Gulf Ports are
Making Strategic Investments for
Competitiveness:
Deeper shipping channelsLarger terminalsInland corridor improvements
Houston
Mobile
New York
Jacksonville
Jasper County Savannah
Charleston
Norfolk
Emerging Themes:
Direct Trans-Atlantic routes through Suez Canal
Asian – especially Chinese – demand for raw materials
Shifting manufacturing trends Southward in Asia Southward in U.S.
AMTRAK
• Passenger trains operateon freight lines in mostcorridors
• Passenger trains usemuch more capacity thanfreight trains due tospeed/schedule requirements
Importance ofRail Yards
• Disassemble and reassemble trains for ultimate destination
• Location where crewsgo on/off duty
• Holding area for trains when destination not ready to receive (staging)
• Locomotive and railcar maintenance
Unit Trains
• Trains of 100 + railcars of single commodity going point to point– Trains lengths up to 8,600 feet– Trend is towards longer trains
• Most efficient operation• Pricing incentives to shippers due to efficiencies• Length of trains demands longer track
configurations at origin/destination and sidings
Emerging Themes:
Scale of investment in key rail corridors leads to multi-state public/private coalitions. Examples: Heartland Corridor (Norfolk Southern)
National Gateway (CSX)
What does it mean?
Our nations seaports exist in a dynamic economy
Many key factors and variables are out of our control
We rely on timely investments from the Class I railroads
Public partnerships with the private sector are more important than ever
Questions?
Eric Johnson, Executive DirectorWashington Public Ports Association
PO Box 1518Olympia, WA 98507