Fullen Dock & Warehouse

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Container-On-Barge Service Continues to Gain Momentum on Inland Waterway System

By Brad Carmony

Just three short years ago, intermodal container shipping options on the U.S. inland waterway system were fairly limited. While trains and trucks were loaded with containers, rarely were containers transported on major rivers. That all changed in March 2004 when Memphis' Fullen Dock & Warehouse initiated a partnership with Osprey Line.

Osprey, a Houston-based, U.S.-flagged short-sea operator, transports intermodal containers throughout the inland waterway system and to New Orleans and Houston, where it operates marine shipping terminals. With the launch of this partnership, a container could now be shipped from as far north as Pittsburgh down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to a waiting ocean liner, which could transport it anywhere in the world.

Lanny Chalk, terminal manager for Fullen Dock & Warehouse, admits that in the beginning, the service was primarily repositioning empty containers – sending empties either up or down river to be reloaded with cargo. When the service first launched, Chalk estimates perhaps one barge a week was being shipped out of the Memphis facility. However, over the previous two years, momentum has picked up.

"Now, we're loading and unloading 5 to 10 barges a week," said Chalk. "Although we're still repositioning some empties, the volume and variety of cargo has increased dramatically. We still have busier times of the year, but movements have stabilized, allowing for greater predictability."

In contrast to truck transit, the container-on-barge (COB) shipping method is a more efficient, streamlined mode of transportation. When containers are delivered to a port via truck, the drivers must stop at the port gate to complete paperwork, and then drive to the dock to unload the container. Multiply this by the number of containers it takes to fill a barge, and you get the idea of how much paperwork and time is involved. With COB, shipments travel directly to the dock and require only one set of paperwork. Osprey Line also uses computer technology to further streamline the process, including electronic dock receipts where the receiving port has the paperwork before the barge arrives.

A key factor to the growth of COB is fuel efficiency. One gallon of diesel fuel, currently around $2.50 per gallon in the Midwestern and Mid-South states, carries one ton of cargo 60 miles by truck, 202 miles by rail and 514 miles by barge, according to the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association.

Logistics experts need to look no further than fuel prices during the previous year to crunch the numbers. Fuel prices skyrocketed virtually overnight after hurricanes Katrina and Rita barreled through the Gulf Coast, damaging oil production. Prices continued to fluctuate unpredictably throughout the majority of 2006, due to instability in the Middle East and the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast production facilities.

With so many variables affecting fuel prices, COB offers a somewhat more stable and cost-effective mode of transportation.

When it comes to cost efficiency, it's difficult to beat COB. Although a truck can transport a container from Memphis to New Orleans in eight to 10 hours, it's just one container. A full standard-sized barge can hold up to 90 TEU (Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit) containers, and make the same trip in three to five days. Newly introduced jumbo barges can hold approximately double the number of TEU containers.

According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, domestic waterborne container traffic increased 41 percent from 5.16 million TEUs in 2003 to 7.3 million TEUs in 2004, the most recent year data is available. But in spite of the growth, the inland waterway system is underutilized, providing relatively smooth traffic flow, unlike the congested rail lines and highway system.

Fullen Dock's Lanny Chalk also points to the fact that COB can accommodate oversized and overweight containers. To improve its loading and unloading capabilities, in August 2005, Fullen Dock purchased a new 250-ton lattice boom crawler crane from the Link-Belt Construction Equipment Company. This all-hydraulic, 120' boom crane provides increased productivity through heavier lifting capacity and allows for expanded loading and offloading capabilities.

"The new crane has allowed us to more than double our lifting capacity and has dramatically increased overall efficiency," said Chalk. "Within a week of its delivery and after intensive operator training, we were loading 30 TEUs an hour."

This quick turn-around in loading and unloading has contributed to a more efficient flow at the docks, and helped speed the cycle for Fullen Dock's customers as well.

While currently only around 10 percent of cargo is shipped via rivers in the U.S., the future of COB here is looking bright, and could one day exceed the volume being shipped in Europe, where waterways are used as relief valves for congested highways. COB traffic on the Rhine River, which flows north through Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands, has increased from less than 10,000 units in 1975 to over 2.3 million units in 2003.

Geographically, Fullen Dock is in a great position for growth. Located in America's Distribution Hub of Memphis, Tennessee, – the country's second largest inland port – Fullen Dock is located on the banks of the country's largest and longest river, and just a few miles from the intersection of two major interstate corridors: I-55 (north/south) and I-40 (east/west). Memphis is also one of only three cities in the nation with direct access to more than five railway systems, and is home to the busiest cargo airport in the world.

Because of the continued growth of existing COB accounts, as well as the new COB business the two companies are generating, both Fullen Dock and Osprey Line remain optimistic about the future. For booking, rate and schedule information, contact Osprey Line at www.ospreyline.com or 281-867-1792. Terminal appointments and gate times in Memphis are available through Lanny Chalk at 901-358-9544.

Overview for Reporters and Editors

Fullen Dock and Warehouse is a full-service intermodal river terminal and warehousing facility located at Mile 740 of the lower Mississippi River, immediately north of Downtown Memphis. Fullen Dock clients include barge brokers, freight forwarders, and manufacturers requiring barge services, harbor and tug services, transshipment, trucking and storage within the Mid-South (Memphis, Tenn.) and to other continental U.S. regions. Fullen Stone stores, sells and transports a wide variety of aggregate products to the regional construction trade. Founded in 1979 in Memphis, "America's Distribution Center," Fullen is located near the junction of I-40 and I-55, with open rail access to CSXT, Burlington Northern, Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern. For more information on Fullen Dock and Warehouse or Fullen Stone, visit www.fullendock.com or call 800-467-7104.

Expert interview contacts and guest columnists

Fullen Dock provides expert interview contacts and guest columnists to trade publications and other press, as well as panelists for trade conferences. Their areas of expertise include inland waterways, doing business and working on the Mississippi River, the steel industry (distribution and logistics), intermodal logistics, homeland security (as it relates to inland waterways), and Memphis as a distribution center.

Press Contact: Brad Carmony, inferno, 901.278.3773, 980-429-0189 (cell), brad@creativeinferno.com

Photos: High-resolution versions of many of the photos on this site are available for publication, along with images of Fullen Dock and Warehouse officials.