The US Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao announced $4,872,000 in grants to six Marine Highway projects. The funding aims to enhance existing marine highways serving ports in Louisiana, Virginia, New York, and Connecticut, and support the development of new container-on-barge services in Kentucky and Rhode Island.
The Marine Highway Program supports the use of navigable waterways to decompress landside congestion, provide new transportation options, and provide other public benefits by increasing the efficiency of the surface transportation system.
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It also provides a new modal choice to cargo shippers, which reduces transportation costs while providing the public benefits of reduced road maintenance costs and improved safety.
The projects that will receive grant funding are:
Port of Baton Rouge and Port of New Orleans Container-on-Barge (awarded $2,507,200)
The grant will be used to purchase marine terminal and handling equipment for efficient loading and unloading of container-on-barge operations in New Orleans. The grant will allow the service to expand to the New Orleans France Road terminal and will allow northbound containers to be offloaded as far north as Memphis, TN.
Davisville/Brooklyn/Newark Container-on-Barge Service (awarded $855,200)
This service will run between Brooklyn, NY, Newark, NJ and the Port of Davisville in Rhode Island. The service will include a run twice a week using one 800-TEU capacity deck barge and will remove about 83,200 containers and 14,976,000 vehicular miles annually from the road. It will also relieve landside congestion and lower transportation costs for shippers.
James River Expansion Project on the M-64 (awarded $456,000)
This scheduled service operates three times a week between terminals in Hampton Roads, and the Richmond Marine Terminal. The grant will allow the service to increase freight handling capacity at the Richmond Marine Terminal.
New York Harbor Container and Trailer-on-Barge Service (awarded $298,423)
The grant will assist with funding a planning study to look at how marine highway services can be expanded throughout the Northeast region from New York Harbor to other points. The study will provide the data necessary to establish the business case to support shipping container movement by barge between terminals and beyond.
Cross Sound Enhancement Project (awarded $503,250)
This grant will support the improvement of the Cross-Sound Ferry by expanding the dock and supporting infrastructure. The project will focus on improving operational safety and efficiency. The grants funding will be used for shoreside infrastructure improvements and more efficient direction of vehicular traffic.
Paducah-McCracken Riverport Container-on-Barge Service (awarded $251,927)
The grant funding will be applied to an 18-month demonstration of container-on-barge services that would stretch across three states and three marine highways. The funds will be utilized for leasing and/or purchase of shoreside container handling equipment.
