Office of Naval Research - National Transportation Library

Figure 3 - Trends in Domestic Waterborne Commerce Ton-Miles, 1986-2005Domestic Waterborne Commerce,1986-2005Billion Short Ton-Miles10008006004002000198619901994199820022005Coastw iseInternalLakew iseTotalSource: Volpe generated chart based on data from USACE, Waterborne Commerce of the U.S. Calendar Year2005, Part 5, National Summaries, Table 1-9The flat domestic cargo tonnage volumes, coupled with the declining ton-miles in watertransportation, have created an underlying structural condition in the U.S. that has shiftedfreight transportation traffic away from the waterborne mode. The dampening effect of thisstructural condition on the U.S. SSS market share has been worsened by the influence ofthree related market forces: a) the growing demand for expedited truck service for movinghigh value, just-in-time shipments to regional distribution centers for inventoryreplenishment; b) emergence of major East-West large-volume, high-density rail corridorsfor the movement of imported goods; and the c) emergence of truck-dominatedtransshipment networks of inland distribution and consolidation centers in the major portregions. On balance, these factors have further dampened the growth of markets fordomestic water transportation, though many economic and policy factors have begun to shiftthe balance in favor of SSS, as addressed in Section 3.0 and 5.0.ONR SSS Final Report 13