Reviews Opportunities and Threats to the Sector Based Upon Factors that Can and Can't Be Controlled in the Normal Course of Business

1. Opportunities and Threats
for Barging Freight
Success stories and risks to the plan

2. Successes
• Where are the success stories on inland waterways?
• Steady if modest past growth
• Projections along the same slopes
• Outsized positive impact on commodity transportation

3. Successes
• How do we encourage more traffic onto waterways?
• Align barging with shipper supply chain objectives
• Rates
• Low risk of damaging commodity
• Rates
• Worker safety
• Rates
• Low environmental impact
• Rates

4. Successes
• How do we make waterways more attractive to shippers?
• River visits by shippers
• Pubic outreach via RiverWorks Discovery (.org)

5. Successes
• How can barge lines encourage this discussion?
• Evolving according to shipper incentives
• Larger tows
• Smaller crews
• Small ship model
• System critical in Europe and Asia
• Could be adopted here if incentives aligned

6. Successes
• Use of Benefit Cost Analysis (BCA) CAN create uniform comparisons
of projects

7. Risks
• Unreliability of locks narrative
• Belied by risks of trucker shortage & poor road narrative

8. Risks
• Inadequate funding narrative
• Belied by actual funding trends
• Belied by same for roadways
• Belied by risks railroads face attracting private capital

9. Risks
BCA:
•One Stakeholder’s benefit is another’s cost
•Can you switch the positions and analyze anew?
•Sufficient budget to do honest BCA

10. Risks
• Environmental narrative
• Belied by intractability of that crowd for road and rail development
• BCA considered immoral by segments of environmental
stakeholders
• Dark side of sustainability
• Resource constraint
• Fundamental pessimism

11. Risks
• Freight rates don’t currently support honest profit
• Barge fleet supply and demand imbalanced
• Grain and coal fleet classic
• Liquid overbuild looming
• Self-inflicted wound
• Discipline for thee but not for me

12. Risks
• Cabotage through the Jones Act
• Message to foes:
Realign the much more distorted airline cabotage before maritime
• Lessons:
• National security
• Preserving the industrial base
• Reciprocal rights

13. Risks
• Mariner licensing creates upward wage pressure
• Ties back to freight rates and cabotage
• Dark side of our “Great news about high-paying jobs”

14. Pathways
Numbers and narrative
• Each can illuminate or obscure
• Combined effectively, solid figures and
compelling stories persuade and defend.
• Congress
• Administration
• Public

15. Discussion
Mark J Carr
Channel Design Group
MarkC@ChannelDesignGroup.com
DC – NOLA - StL