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

Osprey Line uses deck barges and will only stack them two high due to wind concerns in the
South Texas Gulf area.
A jumbo river barge, however, can carry 24 TEUs of containers, stacked 3 high, for 72 TEUs per
barge. As the name implies, this could be 72 twenty-foot containers or 36 forty-foot container
equivalent units, or some combination thereof. This is shown in Appendix H.
Stowage, Multiple Stops, Express Service
Vessels with containers require stowage plans for stability of the vessel. The stowage plans aid
the receiving port in its unloading plan. Every time a vessel stops to pick up additional
containers, a new stowage plan must be made. This sometimes requires unloading and reloading
previously loaded containers to re-stabilize the vessel.
Thus, a single barge should be loaded at one port to be delivered to one port (port-pairs).
Exceptions can be made, but only at the expense of scheduling and possibly, double handling of
cargo.
This means that a successful port should invest in marketing efforts to eventually guarantee a full
barge load for each destination port it seeks to serve. Demonstration or trial services, however,
may not have this luxury. In that case, additional stops may be required.
A notable exception could result from some carriers’ reluctance to move containers stacked threehigh
in the lower Gulf Intracoastal area. Until those concerns are resolved, the third-high stack
from the inland rivers could be removed at a port such as Houston or New Orleans.
<strong>Container</strong>/Chassis Management System
The container/chassis management system requires a supply of containers/chassis, a container
inspection reporting system on the condition for the containers at transfer points, and maintenance
of the equipment supply, since the ocean carrier in the COB operation can simplify the container
equipment supply, since the ocean carrier already delivers large volumes of equipment to the
ocean ports. 19 If an equipment supplier is not easily available, the inland port may be required to
set up the neutral pool itself.
Depending upon the ship line, inland pools are already established in Memphis, St. Louis,
Chicago, Nashville, Columbus and Cleveland. In Pittsburgh, for instance, Hapag Lloyd has a
pool, but not all of the lines do the same. The expense for establishing a pool will have to be born
or shared by the shipper, the steamship or barge line, or a logistics company or port.
19 <strong>Container</strong> Transport by Inland Waterways, Pgs 19-20