Office of Naval Research - National Transportation Library

6-2-5 Deployment of Advanced Technologies could Facilitate Cost-Effective Marine Shipping and Integrate SSS in the National FreightNetworkSeveral advanced technologies are available today to SSS operators to allow them to navigatethe waterways more efficiently and deliver their cargo faster and more reliably. One suchsystem is a prototype automatic identification system (AIS) and vessel traffic informationsystem developed for the Columbia River pilots for improving navigation and visibility. TheTransView navigation display software system was developed by the Volpe Center toprovide river pilots with the capability to display the most recent channel soundings or depthinformation. TransView enables the harbor pilots to visualize and navigate the mountainousterrain of the Columbia River that had made it difficult in the past for barges and rivervessels to navigate deep-draft channels. Because of the obstructions in the mountainousterrain, radar technologies were rendered ineffective in situations where two large ships meetaround the river bend.The SmartLock System is another example of an advanced technology system for facilitatinginland waterway navigation. SmartLock was developed and tested for the Port of Pittsburghcommission, in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University, as a prototype system basedon the same principles used for air traffic control systems. This navigation, networking, andcommunication system establishes links between the tow and the lock and gives the pilot ofthe tow greater knowledge as to his position relative to the lock. The system speeds thelocking process and enables the lock operation to continue during periods of low-visibilityand adverse conditions.Another example of innovative technologies for improving inland river navigation is theRiver Level Reporting and Forecasting System, also known as MaxLoad. MaxLoad is awater-level forecasting tool that helps pilots and ship captains set departure times and vesselspeeds to take advantage of tides and water flows to allow the vessels to be loaded to themaximum depth. Potential application of LoadMax would be to reduce the need for channeldeepening in addition to enabling vessel operators to maximize their loads and avoid theunpredictability of the inland river vessel transit. 94The iModal system is another tool that could potentially enhance the operating efficiency ofSSS by addressing the problems with the lock system on the inland waterways. TheUniversity of Virginia developed the iModal tool as a decision-support tool for supply chainmanagement and pricing. The tool is designed to create a centralized, web accessiblesoftware system which seamlessly integrates all aspects of container-on-barge (COB)shipping with the existing intermodal system, and serves as a single point of collaborationbetween shippers, control towers, port authorities, terminal operators, and bridge tenders.iModal generates a Network Diagram for the five river ports in the system: St. Louis,Cincinnati, Memphis, New Orleans, and Pittsburgh serving as the major nodes or ports.Locations of rail and truck terminals are identified as hubs in the network. The spokes in thisnetwork represent the optimal combination of modes (water, rail, truck) with the optimalpaths determined through algorithms based on maximum and minimum costs per ton mile94 Columbia River Channel Deepening Project, http://www.sei.org/columbia/background_project.html, andhttp://www.channeldeepending.com/docs/channelBOQA.pdfONR SSS Final Report 76