The National Waterways Foundation (NWF), in cooperation with the U.S. Maritime Administration (MarAd), released a study that examined the economic impacts of unscheduled lock outages and highlighted the benefits associated with reliable inland navigation.
The National Waterways Foundation (NWF), in cooperation with the U.S. Maritime Administration (MarAd), released a study that examined the economic impacts of unscheduled lock outages and highlighted the economic benefits associated with reliable inland navigation.
The study, dubbed “The Impacts of Unscheduled Lock Outages,” was conducted by the Center for Transportation Research at the University of Tennessee, and the Vanderbilt Engineering Center for Transportation and Operational Resiliency at Vanderbilt University.
Based on data from the 2014 calendar year, the study analyzed four locks that support traffic on the Mississippi River system – the Markland Locks and Dam, the Calcasieu Lock, the LaGrange Lock and Dam, and Lock and Dam 25.
Situated on the Ohio River near Cincinnati, the Markland Locks and Dam, which opened in 1959, moves 60 million tons of freight through the Ohio River basin each year.
The study found that an unplanned closure of the Markland Locks and Dam would cost the shipping public more than 1.3 billion annually in additional transport charges, and would require the availability and use of 40,000 additional rail carloads and 60,000 additional truckloads. It would also disrupt the affordable delivery of electric power across the eastern U.S.
Meanwhile, the Calcasieu Lock, which is located on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway in Cameron Parish, La., moves 40 million tons of freight through the Gulf each year. The single-chamber lock opened for business back in 1950, and is a critical element for inland navigation between Texas and Louisiana, primarily for petroleum and chemical traffic, the study said.
An unplanned closure of the Calcasieu Lock would cost the shipping public more than $1.1 billion annually in additional transport charges, and require the availability and use of 10,000 additional rail cars and several hundred locomotives, the study found.
Volumes at LaGrange Lock and Dam, on the Illinois River, and Lock and Dam 25, situated just north of St. Louis on the Mississippi River, are dominated by Gulf-destined, down-bound flows of corn and soybeans. In addition, both locks, which opened in 1939, handle up-bound fertilizer shipments.
An unexpected closure at either would severely test the nation’s railroads, the study said. At LaGrange Lock and Dam, an unplanned closure would cost the shipping public nearly $1.6 billion annually in additional transport charges, while an unplanned closure at Lock and Dam 25 would cost the shipping public nearly $1.6 billion annually in additional transport charges.
NWF, MarAd release study on unscheduled lock outages
