Office of Naval Research - National Transportation Library

services, while many COB services conducted in coastal areas may or may not qualify to beclassed as feedering.2-2-1 Inland Waterway Markets: Tug-Barge, COB and ATB ServiceOf the total 1 billion tons of domestic freight transported by water, about 60 percent istransported on the in inland rivers. Tug-barge is the service traditionally used for inland rivertransport. Of the remaining domestic waterborne freight, about a third is carried on thecoastal waterways and the intracoastal Gulf routes. The Great Lakes carry the remaining 10percent of the domestic waterborne traffic.The fleet of vessels serving the domestic waterborne trade is comprised of about 28,000 drybulk barges, 4,200 liquid tank barges, and 4,560 tug-tow boats. The service, conducted at aspeed of about 5-7 knot on dry bulk hopper barges and liquid tank barges, has beenpredominantly for low-value, bulk commodities such as coal, minerals, petroleum, andgrains.2-2-2 Coastal/Great Lakes Markets: Self-Propelled RoRo, COB, FastFerryThis market is characterized as potential high-density domestic commodity markets thatcould support large volume of truckloads on RoRo. With the emergence of newlycontainerized bulk commodities, container-on-barge (COB) service is also a growing vesseltype for this market segment. Competition for SSS operators comes from rail carload andintermodal trailer service and long-haul trucking service. Some examples of SSS services inthis market include the following classes of service:• Self-propelled tanker fleets distributing domestic liquid bulk cargo and providinglightering service;• Self-propelled and COB/ATB vessels for domestic delivery of dry bulk cargo;• Fast Ferries, RoRo, and COB service for Great Lakes.Modernization of traditional tug-barge transport began about 30 years ago with introductionof the domestic COB service in the U.S. COB operations began along the Atlantic Coastrange and on the Columbia River System in the Pacific Northwest, when internationalcontainerization had reached a critical mass and pushed intermodal operations beyond thedeep water ports. Only a handful of the COB operations that began in 1975 has survived todate, with many businesses changing ownership structure. Of the 15 COB firms that beganoperations 30 years ago, the Alabama COB Feasibility study identified only five as still inoperation, as follows: 13• Columbia Coastal (New Jersey-based); offering Coastal COB service;• Osprey Lines, LLC. (Texas-based); offering Inland COB service;• Tidewater Marine (Washington-based); offering Inland COB service;• Foss Maritime (Oregon-based); offering Inland COB service;• ACBL (Indiana-based); offering Inland COB.13 Reeves and Associates, “Analysis of the Potential Markets for Short Sea Shipping Services ove the Ports ofFall River and New Bedford,” prepared for the Massachusetts Department of Business and Technology andSeaport Advisory Council, March 29, 2006.ONR SSS Final Report 22