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Chapter 3: Moving Goods

The U.S. freight transportation system moved nearly 20.1 billion tons of goods valued at $18.0 trillion in 2013, according to estimates derived from the Freight Analysis Framework (FAF) (table 3-1). This total means the freight transportation system carried, on average, about 55.0 million tons of goods worth more than $49.3 billion each day, or about 63 tons of freight per capita per year in the United States in 2013, an 11 percent increase from 57 tons in 2011. See box 3-A for information about the FAF and the Commodity Flow Survey (CFS).

In 2013 freight tonnage rose to 6.3 percent over 2007 levels, fully rebounding from declines during the recession of 2008 and 2009. FAF paints a similar picture for the value of freight shipments. Table 3-1 shows that the total weight and value of freight in 2013 surpassed prerecession levels in all categories (except import tonnage). FAF forecasts over the long term that freight weight will grow 1.3 percent annually between 2013 and 2040. The value of goods moved, in real dollars, is expected to increase faster than tonnage and nearly double during this time span as higher value goods are moved [USDOT BTS and FHWA 2015]. U.S. exports and imports accounted for 4.5 and 6.0 percent of the weight and 7.6 and 11.8 percent of the value of freight transported in 2013, respectively. FAF forecasts that U.S. exports and imports will account for an even greater share of freight movements in 2040, reaching 19.0 percent of the weight and 30.9 percent of the value of goods shipped throughout the country [USDOT BTS and FHWA 2015].

Population growth and economic activity are the primary factors that determine freight demand. As population increases or economic activity expands, more goods are produced and used, resulting in additional freight movement. Between 2009 and 2014, the U.S. population increased by 3.9 percent [USDOC CENSUS], and U.S. gross domestic product grew by 20.8 percent in terms of current dollars over the depressed post-recession level [USDOC BEA 2015]. In addition, changes in the composition of goods demanded and shifts of economic centers of gravity to Asia had an effect on what goods were moved, what modes were used to transport them, and where they were shipped. Freight carried by the for-hire transportation industry rose as the economy rebounded from

the past recession. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ (BTS’s) freight Transportation Services Index, the level of freight shipments in April 2015 was 27.2 percent above the April 2009 low recorded during the most recent recession [USDOT BTS 2015c].

How Domestic Freight Moves

The freight transportation industry moved goods over a network of truck routes, railroads, waterways, airports, and pipelines. The distance a shipment must travel, either by single mode or during any particular leg of a multimodal journey, plays a major part in determining what mode or modes are used (see figure 3-1).

Most goods are moved short distances (less than 250 miles), and accounted for 55.7 percent of the value, 70.7 percent of the weight, and 16.7 percent of the ton-miles for all shipments within the United States in 2007. Although accounting for less than 30 percent of the total weight of all shipments in 2007, shipments of more than 250 miles constituted the bulk of ton-miles logged—83.3 percent. Modal shares of freight vary considerably by distance. While trucks carry the largest shares by value, tons, and ton-miles for shipments moving 750 miles or less; rail is the dominant mode by tons and ton-miles of shipments ranging from 750 to 2,000 miles; and air, multiple, and other/unknown modes account for 51.8 percent of the value of shipments moving more than 2,000 miles [USDOT BTS and FHWA 2015].

Overall, trucks carry the highest percentage of the weight and value of goods in the United States. However, figure 3-2 shows that railroads and inland waterways carry large volumes and tonnages of commodities, like coal and petroleum products, over long distances. Rail and water combined accounted for 13.2 percent of the total tonnage and 4.8 percent of the total value of freight moved in the United States in 2013. Air carriers moved high-value, low-weight products. This is underscored by the relatively extreme value- to-weight ratio of air cargo, which is about $77,800 per ton. In comparison, the overall value-to-weight ratio of cargo carried by all modes combined is less than $900 per ton. In 2013 pipelines moved 1.5 billion tons of goods valued at nearly $1.1 trillion ($577 per ton), while rail moved more tonnage of lesser value—1.9 billion tons valued at $551 billion ($275 per ton). Rail represented 9.3 percent of the total tonnage and 3.2 percent of the total value of shipments in 2013. Rail shipments by tonnage are projected to increase by 49.1 percent between 2013 and 2040 [USDOT BTS and FHWA 2015].

The water mode typically carries low-value, bulk products similar to rail.¹ In 2013 the water transportation industry moved 808 million tons worth $284 billion ($285 per ton), representing 4.0 percent of the tonnage and 1.6 percent of the value of all freight shipments [USDOT BTS and FHWA 2015]. In 2013 approximately 566.7 million short tons of cargo were moved by vessel along the inland waterways, including the Mississippi River—the Nation’s busiest waterway [USACE NDC 2013].

In comparison with the rail and water modes, air transport carries high-value products, such as electronics, precision instruments, and pharmaceuticals that require quick delivery. Of all modes, the value of air-freight shipments is projected to increase the fastest from 2013 to 2040, growing by 332.1 percent [USDOT BTS and FHWA 2015]. In 2013 U.S. airlines² carried a total of 34,804 million international and domestic revenue freight and mail cargo revenue ton-miles, of which 12,428 million were domestic [USDOT BTS 2015b].

Over the last 20 years, the U.S. transportation system has become increasingly interconnected. Although multimodal services accounted for a relatively small share (7.7 percent) of freight tonnage, they moved 17.0 percent of the value of the goods in 2013. FAF forecasts the value of multimodal shipments will increase significantly between 2013 and 2040 [USDOT BTS and FHWA 2015].³

The growth in intermodal freight movement is driven, in part, by global supply chain requirements. Between 1990 and 2013, the railroad industry reported a 106.7 percent increase in trailer and container traffic [AAR 2014a]. The Association of American Railroads reports that rail intermodal traffic accounted for 12.9 percent of U.S. Class I railroad revenue in 2012. Only coal along with chemicals and allied products accounted for a larger share of revenue [AAR 2013]. With the growth in container trade and improvements in information and logistics technologies, the stage is set for increased reliance on intermodal transportation to move goods from manufacturers to consumers.

Commodities Moved Domestically

Table 3-2 shows that heavy, low-value bulk products, such as gravel, cereal grains; coal, non-metallic mineral products; waste/scrap; and natural gas, coke, and asphalt comprised a large share of the tonnage moved in 2013, but accounted for a small share of the Nation’s freight value. In fact, in 2013 the top 10 commodities by weight accounted for 64.6 percent of total tonnage but only 16 percent of the value of goods. Rounding out the top 10 by weight were coal, gasoline, crude petroleum, fuel oils, and natural sands [USDOT BTS and FHWA 2015].

The picture changes considerably when looking at the value of goods shipped. The highest value goods were those that are time- sensitive, including machinery, electronics, motorized vehicles, mixed freight, and pharmaceuticals. Other top commodities by value are gasoline; miscellaneous manufactured products; textiles/leather; natural gas, coke, asphalt; and plastics/rubber. In 2013 the top 10 commodities by value accounted for 58.0 percent of total value but only 18.8 percent of total tonnage [USDOT and FHWA 2015].

Energy Commodities Transportation

The transportation of four major energy com- modities/resources is discussed here: crude oil and refined petroleum products, natural gas, coal, and ethanol. The delivery of these energy commodities involve various modes, depend- ing on the characteristics of the commodity, the distance from wellhead or mine to processing facilities and then to the final consumer. In- creasingly, energy commodity movements are multimodal, utilizing a combination of pipe- line, rail, barge, and truck.

Crude Oil and Petroleum Refined Products

Pipelines are the predominant mode for transporting crude oil and petroleum products in the United States. Historically, pipelines delivered crude oil from the Gulf of Mexico to refineries located near U.S. coastlines. However, changes in where oil is produced have affected transportation patterns in recent years. For example, expanded production in regions distant from refineries, such as the Bakken formation in North Dakota, has increased the use of rail, barge, and truck to move oil from the wellhead to refineries. Moreover, pipelines that previously delivered crude oil from the Gulf of Mexico to refineries now also deliver domestic and Canadian oil to the Gulf of Mexico to be refined and/ or exported [USDOE 2015]. U.S. crude oil production increased by 72.9 percent from 167 billion barrels in January 2010 to 289 billion barrels in August 2015 (figure 3-3). Texas and North Dakota accounted for about half of U.S. crude oil production in August 2015.

The recent growth in oil shipments by rail is demonstrated by the increase in the number of railcars carrying crude oil. According to the American Association of Railroads (AAR), U.S. Class I railroads (including U.S. Class I subsidiaries of Canadian railroads) carried 493,146 carloads of crude oil in 2014, a 50- fold increase from 9,500 carloads in 2008 [AAR 2015]. The U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration estimates that rail moved more than 1 million barrels of crude oil per day in 2014 [USDOE EIA 2015c]. The Bakken region has accounted for the majority of new rail shipments. The North Dakota Pipeline Authority estimates that about 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day were moving out of the state by rail as of early 2015, which is equivalent to roughly 60 percent of the State’s total crude oil production [NDPA 2015]. Railroads own less than one percent of the tank cars that transport crude oil. Nearly all of them are owned by companies served by the railroads and by leasing companies [AAR 2015a].

Shifts in oil production also have spurred growth in the waterborne transport of oil. According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. ports and inland waterways handled nearly 7 billion barrels of crude and petroleum products in 2013, the latest year for which data are available [USACE NDC 2015]. This is about half of the total volume of oil transported by transmission pipelines in 2013 [AOP]. Of the total moved by the water mode, 2.5 billion barrels were transported by barges on U.S. inland waterways from port to port along the coast or on the Great Lakes [USDOE 2015]. The use of barges for oil transport has risen in recent years, as shown by the increase in refinery receipts by barge from 61.6 million barrels of domestic crude in 2009 to nearly 244.3 million barrels in 2014. Over the same period, barge deliveries of foreign crude have risen by little more than 2.2 percent, due in part to a decrease in oil imports [USDOE EIA 2014c]. Presently, all oil transport is intermodal, where oil may be transported by pipeline or rail to a terminal and then be transferred to a barge for delivery to a refinery.

Trucks are used for short-haul drayage of crude oil from the wellhead to gathering pipelines or rail loading terminals for long- distance transport. Because oil production has outstripped the construction of pipeline gathering systems in the Bakken area, trucks deliver about 40 percent of Bakken oil to pipeline and rail terminals. Trucks also are used to move crude oil over short distances to refineries. The demand for truck transport is illustrated by the doubling of refinery receipts of crude oil by truck, from 67.8 million barrels in 2009 to 152.5 million barrels in 2013 [USDOE EIA 2014c].

After the crude oil is refined into gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, and heating oil, among other products, these commodities are shipped via pipeline to a bulk storage terminal that serves many companies. Gasoline, for example is loaded on tanker trucks for delivery to various retail gas stations. Jet fuel is pumped directly from the storage terminal to major airports that have receiving facilities on site.

Natural Gas

A complex network of pipelines transports natural gas from the wellhead to the final customer. Pipeline gathering systems, which consist of low-pressure, small- diameter pipelines, move raw natural gas from the wellhead to the processing plant where impurities and other hydrocarbons are removed. Gathering pipelines also may transport the gas directly to the mainline transmission grid, depending on the quality of the wellhead gas. After processing, the gas is then transported by interstate and intrastate pipeline to consumers or is put into underground storage for future use to meet customer requirements during peak-usage periods. In 2014 U.S. natural gas production reached 27.3 trillion cubic feet (tcf) [USDOE EIA 2015b]. Pipelines deliver about one-third of natural gas production to power plants to produce electricity, and about one-fifth is delivered to homes for heating [USDOE EIA 2014a].

Coal

The way in which coal is transported to where it will be used depends on the distance that needs to be covered. Trucks are used for short distances, and trains and barges are used for longer distances. Alternatively, coal can be crushed and mixed with water to form a slurry and transported through a pipeline.

According to FAF, rail moved the greatest share of domestic coal shipments in 2012, accounting for 69.0 percent (619 million short tons) of the total 1.3 billion short tons. Trucks are the second largest mover of domestic coal shipments, hauling 16.9 percent (nearly 224 million tons) (figures 3-4 and 3-5). The Association of American Railroads reports that coal represents 39.5 percent of total tonnage moved by rail and 19.9 percent of total industry revenues and is viewed by many in the industry as its most important single commodity [AAR 2014b].

More than two-thirds of coal used to generate electricity is delivered to power plants by rail. Approximately, two-fifths of all U.S. coal is produced in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin. The vast majority of Wyoming’s coal is sent to power plants in 34 states, almost all of which is moved by rail [USDOE EIA 2014b].

Inland waterways are an important transportation option for coal shipments. Barges typically have the lowest transportation prices per-ton, but they are limited by access to navigable waterways and cannot take coal everywhere that it is needed. Coal used at an electric power plant that is located near a mine can be moved by trucks. Slurry pipelines also are used to deliver coal to power plants.

Ethanol

U.S. ethanol production has grown steadily from 17.8 million barrels in 1990 to 341.4 million barrels in 2014 [USDOE EIA 2015b]. Ethanol now displaces approximately 10 percent of U.S. gasoline demand by volume. Ethanol production is primarily located in the Midwest where most of the corn feedstocks are grown, while the blending of ethanol with gasoline takes place at petroleum product distribution terminals across the country. Typically, rail moves ethanol from production plants to distribution terminals, which accounts for around 70 percent of ethanol shipments. More than 306,000 carloads of ethanol were transported by railroads in 2012 (latest year for which data are available). Most ethanol carried by railroads moves in 30,000-gallon tank cars.

Almost all of these cars are owned by shippers or leasing companies, not by railroads [AAR 2014c]. The final product is delivered by truck to retail outlets.

Hazardous Materials

According to the CFS, more than 22.6 billion tons of hazardous materials were moved in 2012, an increase of 15.6 percent over 2007 tonnage. The value of hazardous materials rose by 61.2 percent between 2007 and 2012, fueled by increases in the price of refined petroleum products [USDOT BTS and USDOC Census 2015]. Flammable liquids accounted for the largest share of hazardous materials shipped by value (80.8 percent) and by tons (78.6 percent), followed by gases, a distant second (table 3-3).

Trucks moved more than half of all hazardous materials shipments, calculated both by weight and value. Pipelines handled about 24.3 percent of the tonnage, followed by waterways (6.7 percent) and rail (5.6 percent). Trucks accounted for approximately 31.4 percent of all hazardous materials ton-miles because of the relatively short distances these products are transported. Rail accounted for 27.6 percent of the hazardous materials ton-miles (table 3-4). The average distance of hazardous material shipments is 114 miles across all modes [USDOT BTS and USDOC Census 2015].

Safety and environmental issues associated with the transportation of hazardous materials are discussed in chapters 6 and 7, respectively.

International Trade

The value of total U.S.-international merchandise trade increased from $2.6 trillion in 2000 to nearly $4.0 trillion in 2014—a 44.5 percent inflation-adjusted increase⁴ [USITC]. Six of the top 15 U.S. trading partners were Asian countries in 2014. Trade with China grew the fastest, from 5.8 percent of the total value of U.S. merchandise trade in 2000 to 14.9 percent in 2014. In 2000 China ranked 10th among U.S. trading partners. Today it is second only to Canada, while Mexico, Japan, and Germany, respectively, round out the top five [USDOC ITA 2015].

U.S. retailers are increasingly dependent on the U.S. transportation system, especially those that build up their inventories in October in anticipation of holiday sales in November and December. In particular, businesses use liner⁵ services to move intermodal shipping containers through the global transportation system. Container ports provide a link between the global and domestic freight network, utilizing intermodal barge, truck, and rail connections to transport containers to their final destinations.

Freight with Canada and Mexico

The U.S. North American Free Trade Agreement partners—Canada and Mexico— accounted for 30.1 percent ($1.19 trillion) of the value of U.S. merchandise trade in 2014. Over the 2000 to 2014 period, combined trade adjusted for inflation with Canada and Mexico increased 32.8 percent⁶ [USITC].

Trucks carried 26.8 percent of the tonnage and 59.9 percent of the value of U.S. merchandise trade with Canada and Mexico, while rail carried 19.5 percent of the tonnage and 14.9 percent of the value in 2014 (table 3-5). U.S. freight with Canada and Mexico reached nearly $1.2 trillion in 2014, an increase of 4.5 percent from 2013 and 67.6 percent since 2004. Mineral fuels and oils transported by the pipeline and water modes accounted for 25.8 percent of the increase in freight value between 2004 and 2014. In 2014 U.S. imports from Canada and Mexico exceeded exports in terms of total merchandise trade value. In 2014 mineral fuels and oil were the top commodity category transported between the United States and Canada. Vehicle and vehicle parts (other than railway vehicles and parts) was the next highest commodity category transported by the truck and rail modes [USDOT BTS 2015d].

A sharp drop in oil prices that began in 2014 has contributed to a decrease in the value of freight moved between the United States and Canada in 2015. The value of trade totaled $48.0 billion in August 2015, down 13.6 percent from August 2014. Mineral fuels transported by pipeline and vessel declined 35.1 and 40.2 percent, respectively, in August 2015 from the previous year [USDOT BTS 2015e]. The Canadian economy was officially declared to be in a recession, after contracting 0.8 percent in first quarter and 0.5 percent in the second quarter 2015, which has been widely attributed to the drop in oil price [COMTE 2015].

Michigan, which accounts for 13.0 percent of the U.S.-Canada border mileage, was the leading state for trade with Canada. Michigan has border crossing/entry ports between Detroit, Port Huron, and Sault Ste. Marie and southern Ontario; both Michigan and Ontario have a high concentration of automakers [USDOT BTS 2015d].

Electrical machinery was the top commodity transported between the United States and Mexico. Texas, which accounts for 64.2 percent of the U.S.-Mexico border mileage and is home to 11 border crossing/entry ports, led all other states in surface freight with Mexico [USDOT BTS 2015d]. In total, there are 87 ports-of-entry along the U.S.-Canada border and 25 on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Freight Transportation Gateways

A large volume of U.S.-international merchandise trade passes through a relatively small number of freight gateways—the entry and exit points for trade between the United States and other countries (figure 3-6). More than 400 gateways, including airports, border crossings, and seaports handled international cargo in 2013 [USDHS CBP 2014], but the top 25 gateways in terms of value handled the greatest share of trade—$2,406 billion or 62.3 percent of the nearly $3,863 billion total U.S.-international trade in goods. Sixteen of the top 25 gateways handled more imports than exports.

In 2014 the Port of Los Angeles was the top water gateway, handling more than $215.0 billion in cargo, mostly imports, while on the Atlantic coast the port of New York and New Jersey ranked second, handling $206.5 billion. Laredo, the top land-border crossing, handled $192.1 billion in trade across the U.S.-Mexico border. John F. Kennedy International Airport was the leading air gateway, handling $191.8 billion in exports and imports.

Water is the leading transportation mode for U.S.-international trade both in terms of weight and value. Ships accounted for more than 71.6 percent of trade weight and 44.2 percent of trade value in 2014. Air handles less than 1 percent of trade weight but 24.8 percent of trade value, due to its focus on high-value, time-sensitive, and perishable commodities. In 2013 the top U.S.-international air gateways by value were John F. Kennedy International, NY; Chicago area airports; and Los Angeles International, CA [USDOT BTS 2015a]. Memphis International, TN; Ted Stevens Anchorage International, AK; and Louisville International, KY were the top U.S.- international air gateways by weight in 2013, the latest year for which data are available [USDOT FAA 2014]. Trucks, which haul a large share of imports and exports between U.S. international gateways and inland locations, carried 18.0 percent of the value of total U.S.-international trade (figure 3-7a) and 10.4 percent of the tonnage in 2014 (figure 3-7b).

Trade growth with Canada and Mexico and the tapping of natural resources, such as oil from the Bakken formation, generates increased north-south traffic flows on a domestic transportation infrastructure that was initially developed along east-west corridors during the westward development of the Nation.

Water Trade

As a result of the growth in international trade, the number of container vessels calling at U.S. ports has increased. Between 2007 and 2012, vessel calls at U.S. seaports increased by 3.9 percent. The average displacement of container vessels increased 10.2 percent, from 47,732 deadweight tons (dwt) in 2007 to 52,589 dwt in 2012 [USDOT MARAD 2014]. In 2013 tankers accounted for 38.7 percent of the vessel calls, followed by containerships with 23.6 percent of the more than 74,000 vessel calls [USDOT MARAD 2015]. The new Post-Panamax containerships also increased in average capacity by 12.7 percent, as measured in twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), from 2006 to 2012, the latest year for which data are available [USDOT MARAD 2014].

In 2014 U.S. seaports handled 31.7 million TEU of containerized cargo, which is 6 percent more than reported in 2007 and an increase of 23.9 percent from 25.6 million TEU in 2009, following the last recession. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach on the Pacific coast and the port of New York and New Jersey on the Atlantic coast are the leading container ports [USDOT MARAD 2015]. As shown in figure 3-8, the geographic distribution of container ports is more concentrated along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, while large volumes of bulk commodities are transported through gulf coast ports (figure 3-2). In 2012 the Atlantic coast, including Puerto Rico, accounted for 37.8 percent of all types of vessel calls, followed by the gulf coast with 37.5 percent, and then the Pacific coast with 24.8 percent [USDOT MARAD 2015].

The major increase in trade with China has resulted in a large share of trade moving through Pacific coast ports (figure 3-9). The trend toward larger containerships has led to a concentration of liner service at ports with ample overhead clearance and water draft, intermodal connections such as double stack rail, and room to grow. This trend is expected to continue, especially when the expanded Panama Canal locks open. The Panama Canal’s existing locks allow Panamax vessels, carrying up to 5,000 TEU, to transit between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. A third set of locks is scheduled to open in 2016, which will handle Post-Panamax vessels up to 13,000 TEUs. The Panama Canal expansion will increase the potential for direct all-water access to South Atlantic and gulf coast ports, especially for U.S. imports from Asia [USDOT MARAD 2013].

References

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—2014a. Railroad Facts 2013 (November) and Annual Issues, p. 29 and similar tables in earlier issues. Available at http://www.aar.org/ as of June 2015.

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¹ Many shipments arriving in the United States by rail and water are transferred to another mode for delivery to their final destination. In FAF, these shipments are counted under “multiple modes and mail.” Thus, the rail and water numbers discussed here may differ than those in other published sources.

² In all service classes (scheduled and nonscheduled)

³ The FAF category for multiple modes and mail in- cludes all multimodal movements and is not limited to traditional intermodal services, such as trailer-on-flatcar and container-on-flatcar rail.

⁴ The 2000 U.S. International Trade Commission trade data was adjusted to current dollars using the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index (CPI) Inflation Calculator.

⁵ A vessel advertising sailings on a specified trade route on a regular basis. It is not necessary that every named port be called on every voyage.

⁶ The percent increase was calculated by adjusting the 2000 trade data using the CPI Inflation Calculator.