Fast Freight/Fast Ships

[michaelstevens]

[8D]
I thought you all might be interested in this upcoming new development for (international) intermodal, where they are talking about scheduled interchanges between trains and the future "fast ships" !
[:)]
"http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/business/7546219.htm"

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

The concept looks interesting on paper but there's a big jump from engineering on paper and scale models to full-size operation. Fuel costs are an obvious consideration that seem to have been glossed over.
Scheduled ship runs are not a new idea and actually go back to at least the 1820's, although not quite as precise as railroading.

[coalminer3]

In the day, these were called "packet" boats. Not only were they transoceanic, but also coastwise. It's not a new idea to coordinate trains with ships; think back to the "silk trains" on the Great Northern. Also, you will see other types of shipments such as export coal coordinated with ship loading.

work safe

[TH&B]

Fuel is a BIG facter, many ship captains will often not increase boat speed even by one knot just because of fuel conservation. Ships are also extremely affected by the weather on the oceans, more so then the railway. My friend had a shipment by boat from obersees and the boat had an emergency problem where it had to go in dry dock where it was for a few weeks. Schedualed boats?... I'm not against it so go for it, see what happens.

[TH&B]

Fuel is a BIG facter, many ship captains will often not increase boat speed even by one knot just because of fuel conservation. Ships are also extremely affected by the weather on the oceans, more so then the railway. My friend had a shipment by boat from obersees and the boat had an emergency problem where it had to go in dry dock where it was for a few weeks. Schedualed boats?... I'm not against it so go for it, see what happens.

[mudchicken]

Odd, Maersk and Hanjin have been doing this since the '80s. Most railroad intermodal trains are already geared to show up just in time. At the port of Long Beach (accross the channel from the original Queen Mary), the railroads are also given blocks of time when they are allowed to load on the dock loop tracks.....You got fined if you overstayed your loading period.