December 2006 Bustle and Flow Fuel costs and a boom in cotton brings about a resurgence in barge traffic By Donnie Snow
Shipping and cotton created Memphis, and with energy prices increasing, the tandem might have a chance to recreate it.
Companies are increasingly modifying supply chains to incorporate a variety of shipping methods. River is slowest, but by far the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly.
Like all inland shipping lines, the Mississippi River suffered, first from the railroads, then from the modern interstate system. Inland shipping was nearly dead just a few years ago, but in 2004 that began to change when Memphis’ Fullen Dock and Warehouse started loading cotton onto barges. In a partnership with Houston-based short-sea operator, Osprey Line, Fullen stoked the long-dormant tradition of river transport.
Fullen had already opened a container terminal at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge, where it moves containers to international marine shipping terminals in New Orleans and Houston. With the Fullen partnership, a container can now ship from as far north as Pittsburgh down the Ohio and Mississippi to a waiting ocean liner, which can transport it anywhere in the world.
In the beginning, the Fullen Dock was primarily repositioning empty containers, but “now, we’re loading and unloading 10 to 15 barges a week,” says Lanny Chalk, the terminal manager.
The container-on-barge (COB) method is more efficient than trucking, with much less paperwork and direct loading/unloading. But most of all, fuel efficiency is key to the growth of barges. A gallon of diesel fuel carries one ton of cargo 60 miles by truck, 202 miles by rail and 514 miles by barge, according to the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association.
Trucks can transport containers from Memphis to New Orleans in a fraction of the time it takes a barge: 8-10 hours compared to 3-5 days. But even pulling two trailers, a truck can only transport two containers compared to the 81 containers, or 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs), a fully loaded barge can haul.
Currently, only around 10% of cargo is shipped on rivers. But in Memphis, barge transport is increasing, with logistics experts speculating that river transport could one day exceed the volume being shipped in Europe, where waterways are used as relief valves for congested highways. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers shows that domestic waterborne container traffic increased 41% from 5.16 million TEUs in 2003 to 7.3 million TEUs in 2004, the most recent year for which data is available.
As the amount of cotton being grown increases—industry records were shattered this year in terms of both production and yield—alternative shipping methods are likely to become increasingly important to growers and distributors. Both Fullen Dock and Memphis stand to benefit.
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