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Source: The Advocate
traffic jam on Interstate 95 in New London made Rockford "Rocky" Weitz and two colleagues 90 minutes late for a meeting with Greenwich shipping executive Per Heidenreich in March 2007.
Thousands can spin similar anecdotes. But Heidenreich and Weitz believe they can help solve the decades-old traffic dilemma, particularly in the heavily congested Northeast.
Weitz, a board director and senior fellow at the Gloucester, Mass.-based Institute for Global Maritime Studies, co-wrote "Deep Blue Highway." The 142-page report promotes freight hauling, or short sea shipping, among U.S. cities by ship or barge rather than by truck or train.
Heidenreich, a general partner in Greenwich-based Heidenreich Innovations and founder of Heidmar Inc. shipping company, was a consultant for the report. Heidenreich Innovations develops software that makes the documentation process easier for vessels that enter ports around the world.
It's time to put more freight on ships to save fuel, reduce emissions and trim truck traffic, Heidenreich said.
"Only 2 percent of domestic freight (excluding bulk cargo such as oil) moves on water, while in Europe it is more than 40 percent," he said. "This has got to change because neither the highways nor the rails can cope with current cargo volume and the expected increase over the next 10 to 15 years."
In the report, Heidenreich and Weitz recommend a network of ports with docking facilities that would enable trucks to roll their trailers onto ships. The truck's cabs would stay behind, and another cab would pick up the trailer at the destination port. Most freight trailers in use today are hoisted by cranes onto container ships or barges.
Weitz said a $150 million investment, or $5 million per port, could prepare about 30 ports.
The federal government is an ally in promoting short sea shipping, also known as coastal shipping.
As part of a sweeping energy bill that Congress passed this year, the U.S. Department of Transportation received greater authority and access to capital to promote short sea shipping, according to the federal Maritime Administration, a division of the transportation department.
Waterways designated as marine highways will be treated more like federal roadways and will be eligible for up to $25 million in capital construction funds, according to the Maritime Administration. Ship owners who plan to use the waterways are eligible for federal programs that allow them access to capital to finance construction and modification of barges.
One short sea route is scheduled to start next month on the James River between Hampton Roads and Richmond in Virginia. The James River Barge Line, a venture started by Norfolk shipping agent T. Parker Host Inc. will initially carry up to 60, 40-foot-long freight boxes each way weekly between Norfolk International Terminals and Richmond. Within three years, the company hopes to move nearly 600 containers a week between the two ports, saving 30,000 truck trips annually, its President David Host told the Daily Press in Newport News, Va.
Heidenreich and Weitz have similar goals for Northeastern ports. Weitz envisions coastal shipping ports among Boston, Fall River and New Bedford, Mass.; Providence and Quonset Point, R.I.; and New London, New Haven and Bridgeport.
Those cities could connect by water to New York City, cities in New Jersey and Wilmington, Del., Weitz said.
Bridgeport Harbor would be an eager participant, said Joseph Riccio, executive director of the Bridgeport Port Authority.
"The Port Authority is looking at the feasibility of transferring containers from the terminals of New Jersey to the port of Bridgeport," he said.
A water route among New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island would reduce truck traffic on I-95 in Connecticut and Westchester County, N.Y., Heidenreich said.
"Such ships will take about 10 to 12 hours each way, which is slower than trucks over the same distance," he said. "The average truck speed is now 35 mph on I-95 between New York and Boston. That is expected to drop to 25 mph by 2015 due to an expected increase in traffic."
Heidenreich said trucking companies, which had opposed water freight cutting into their business, now support coastal shipping.
"The Teamsters have serious problems finding drivers, and short sea shipping will involve short-haul trucking rather than long haul, which is what they prefer so they can go home at night," he said.
Jim Lawrence, chairman of Stamford-based Marine Money International Magazine, endorsed the coastal shipping concept.
"I look out my window and see I-95 coming to a standstill," Lawrence said. "We have this deep blue sea which can be filled with ships that can take some of the trucks off the road."
- Staff Writer Peter Healy can be reached at peter.healy@scni.com or at 964-2276.
traffic jam on Interstate 95 in New London made Rockford "Rocky" Weitz and two colleagues 90 minutes late for a meeting with Greenwich shipping executive Per Heidenreich in March 2007.
Thousands can spin similar anecdotes. But Heidenreich and Weitz believe they can help solve the decades-old traffic dilemma, particularly in the heavily congested Northeast.
Weitz, a board director and senior fellow at the Gloucester, Mass.-based Institute for Global Maritime Studies, co-wrote "Deep Blue Highway." The 142-page report promotes freight hauling, or short sea shipping, among U.S. cities by ship or barge rather than by truck or train.
Heidenreich, a general partner in Greenwich-based Heidenreich Innovations and founder of Heidmar Inc. shipping company, was a consultant for the report. Heidenreich Innovations develops software that makes the documentation process easier for vessels that enter ports around the world.
It's time to put more freight on ships to save fuel, reduce emissions and trim truck traffic, Heidenreich said.
"Only 2 percent of domestic freight (excluding bulk cargo such as oil) moves on water, while in Europe it is more than 40 percent," he said. "This has got to change because neither the highways nor the rails can cope with current cargo volume and the expected increase over the next 10 to 15 years."
In the report, Heidenreich and Weitz recommend a network of ports with docking facilities that would enable trucks to roll their trailers onto ships. The truck's cabs would stay behind, and another cab would pick up the trailer at the destination port. Most freight trailers in use today are hoisted by cranes onto container ships or barges.
Weitz said a $150 million investment, or $5 million per port, could prepare about 30 ports.
The federal government is an ally in promoting short sea shipping, also known as coastal shipping.
As part of a sweeping energy bill that Congress passed this year, the U.S. Department of Transportation received greater authority and access to capital to promote short sea shipping, according to the federal Maritime Administration, a division of the transportation department.
Waterways designated as marine highways will be treated more like federal roadways and will be eligible for up to $25 million in capital construction funds, according to the Maritime Administration. Ship owners who plan to use the waterways are eligible for federal programs that allow them access to capital to finance construction and modification of barges.
One short sea route is scheduled to start next month on the James River between Hampton Roads and Richmond in Virginia. The James River Barge Line, a venture started by Norfolk shipping agent T. Parker Host Inc. will initially carry up to 60, 40-foot-long freight boxes each way weekly between Norfolk International Terminals and Richmond. Within three years, the company hopes to move nearly 600 containers a week between the two ports, saving 30,000 truck trips annually, its President David Host told the Daily Press in Newport News, Va.
Heidenreich and Weitz have similar goals for Northeastern ports. Weitz envisions coastal shipping ports among Boston, Fall River and New Bedford, Mass.; Providence and Quonset Point, R.I.; and New London, New Haven and Bridgeport.
Those cities could connect by water to New York City, cities in New Jersey and Wilmington, Del., Weitz said.
Bridgeport Harbor would be an eager participant, said Joseph Riccio, executive director of the Bridgeport Port Authority.
"The Port Authority is looking at the feasibility of transferring containers from the terminals of New Jersey to the port of Bridgeport," he said.
A water route among New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island would reduce truck traffic on I-95 in Connecticut and Westchester County, N.Y., Heidenreich said.
"Such ships will take about 10 to 12 hours each way, which is slower than trucks over the same distance," he said. "The average truck speed is now 35 mph on I-95 between New York and Boston. That is expected to drop to 25 mph by 2015 due to an expected increase in traffic."
Heidenreich said trucking companies, which had opposed water freight cutting into their business, now support coastal shipping.
"The Teamsters have serious problems finding drivers, and short sea shipping will involve short-haul trucking rather than long haul, which is what they prefer so they can go home at night," he said.
Jim Lawrence, chairman of Stamford-based Marine Money International Magazine, endorsed the coastal shipping concept.
"I look out my window and see I-95 coming to a standstill," Lawrence said. "We have this deep blue sea which can be filled with ships that can take some of the trucks off the road."
- Staff Writer Peter Healy can be reached at peter.healy@scni.com or at 964-2276.
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