Container-on-Barge Pre-Feasibility Study Final Report - Towmasters ...

A party interested in promoting domestic transportation via containers needs to be aware if the
container used is international, part of an international movement, has its duties paid, or,
conversely, if it is a domestic container, if it has the appropriate slots and pins standard in the
international movement. (This is important because of the handling requirements for the port of
embarkation and disembarkation.)
The exception noted above for repositioning containers is an important one. Front Royal, VA, is
an inland depot for the Port of Norfolk. In the earliest years of its operations, it attracted
primarily empty containers moving back to an ocean port and then back overseas. Eventually
shippers learned that they could move cargo in these otherwise empty containers. As a result, the
community of Front Royal has had numerous companies locate consolidation and distribution
facilities there.
In the past, COB service has been tried and found wanting on the Mississippi River System
(MRS), the Ohio River System (ORS), and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW). Recently, a
new service coming out of Houston has overcome obstacles long considered insurmountable for
the GIWW and is even starting to move up the Lower Mississippi River System (LMRS). This
has encouraged new thinking about expanding COB service up the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.
Successful COB operations are not only successful towing operations, but they are successful
logistical operations that combine transportation modes promoting COB in an integrated way.
They include: the Rhine River System, the Columbia Snake River System and Osprey Line from
the GIWW and finally the Danube River System. The first three of these key their activity off of
overseas traffic that comes into a gateway port or ports.
Successful systems include: efficient, cost-effective terminal operations; efficient and reliable
barge sailing and delivery schedules; effective container/chassis equipment control and repair
systems; security, insurance and risk control systems; sophisticated communications systems
and extensive preparatory marketing. 10
10 <strong>Container</strong> Transport by Inland Waterways, Pg. 14