A Clear, Clean Advantage
In an era of skyrocketing fuel costs and environmental concerns, more and more businesses are making the cleaner, more affordable transportation choice — Marquette Transportation.
As one of the nation’s largest marine transporters, Marquette is a part of an environmentally based industry — and one that is vital to our U.S. economy and national security. Marine transportation offers superior environmental, cost and safety advantages when compared with semi truck and rail car, making it one of the best choices for moving virtually any type of cargo. Transportation by barge also offers greater capacity to move more products and relieves congestion in other transportation modes, such as highway, air and railroad.
· Cargo Capacity
· Equivalent Lengths
Equivalent Lengths
Economic Advantages by the Numbers
· When compared to other transportation modes, transporting bulk goods by water results in a 35 percent reduction in transportation costs.
· The value of waterway transportation is based on its low cost. Barges move 16% of domestic intercity freight for less than 2% of freight costs.
· Barges save shippers over $7 billion annually on products shipped by barge:
o Texas shippers, their customers and suppliers save $1.5 billion
o Missouri: $14 million
o Illinois: $45 million
o Ohio: $29 million
· Savings in health-related costs probably exceed $1 billion for Ohio River barge traffic.
· The sugar industry in the Rio Grande Valley would not exist without barge transportation.
Source: GICA
Environmental Advantages by the Numbers
· A single barge can transport more cargo than 58 semi trucks or 15 jumbo hopper rail cars, while reducing propulsion emissions by one-third or more.
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· One gallon of fuel can move one ton of freight 522 miles by barge, compared to 386 miles by train and 59 miles by truck.
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· Oxides of nitrogen are the chemicals that produce smog. While moving one ton of freight 1000 miles:
o Trains produce 3.5 times the oxides of nitrogen as barges
o Trucks produce 19 times the oxides of nitrogen as barges
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· To move domestic waterborne commerce by truck would require 41 million more truck trips.
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· To move domestic waterborne commerce by truck would require 9.9 billion gallons of additional fuel.
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· To move domestic waterborne commerce by truck would add 7.8 billion pounds of pollutants to the air each year.
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· Water transportation experiences fewer accidents, injuries or fatalities than any other surface mode.
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· Barge transportation operates in a waterway environment that has few crossing junctures and is relatively remote from population centers -- all factors that tend to reduce both the number and severity of casualty incidents.
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· An independent modal safety study of transporting bulk hazardous substances prepared for the Maritime Administration found that barge spills occur much less often than spills from either tank trucks or tank cars.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Transportation Maritime Administration.
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