Office of Naval Research - National Transportation Library

are based on different assumptions about the typical size of a barge, truck, or railconveyance.Table 18 – Equivalency Units for Carrying Capacity of Barge Tows and AlternativeHighway and Rail ModesSSS AlternativeEquivalent Units1 Barge 15 Jumbo Rail Hoppers58 Large Semi Trailer Truck1-15-Barge Tow2.25 Unit-train rail cars870 Large Semi Trailer TruckSource: Hanson Professional Services, Inc. “Kentucky Freight Transportation Conference, 2007”,Frankfort, Kentucky, May 15, 2007.Other capacity equivalencies with respect to alternative highway, rail, and water modes formoving freight are documented in Table 19.Table 19 – Capacity Equivalency for Alternative Cargo Conveyance ModesVessel typeCargo Capacity1 Barge 1,500 tons52,500 bushels453,600 gallons1 15-Barge Tow 22,500 tons878,500 bushels6,804,000 gallons1 Jumbo Rail Hopper 100 tons3,500 bushels30,240 gallonsA 100-Car Train10,500 tons35,000 bushels3,024,000 gallonsA Large Semi Truck Trailer 26 tons910 bushels7,865 gallonsSource: Hanson Professional Services, Inc. “Kentucky Freight Transportation Conference, 2007”,Frankfort, Kentucky, May 15, 2007.5-5 Estimating the Potential to Reduce Fossil Fuel ConsumptionSSS vessels are more fuel-efficient since a single marine propulsion system replaces multipletruck engines needed to move the same volume of cargo. As Table 19 above showed, basedon the DOT estimates, an average tug-barge combination carries 1 ton of freight 514 miles ona single gallon of diesel fuel, compared to 202 miles carried on a rail car and 59 miles carriedby truck (Figure 27)ONR SSS Final Report 63