Home
»
Trains Magazine
»
Forums
»
General Discussion
»
Panama Canal expansion to hurt intermodal?

Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
[quote user="rob_l"] Here are my rough rule-of-thumbs on costs of transporting marine boxes: Steamship rates for a 40-ft dry box are $400-$500 + $0.05 per container nautical-mile (note the fixed factor for the terminals at either end) Rail double-stack-train rates for a 40-ft dry box are $200-$250 + $0.50 per container-mile plus the cost of the drays at either end, if any (note the fixed factor for the terminals at either end) In terms of rates that shippers pay, passing a box through a steamship terminal costs $200 - $250 In terms of rates that shippers pay, passing a box through a rail intermodal terminal costs $100-$125 Rates vary by customer and are moving up dramatically these days, so take these figures with a grain a salt. But please note two very important points: (1) Terminal costs are a huge proportion of the cost. Lifting the box is the most expensive and most inefficient step in the overall process. Adding more terminal steps in the overall movement of the box adds a substantial amount of cost. I don't believe a rail landbridge could be economically preferred to a larger canal, unless the volume were so low that the capital expense of expanding the canal could not be recovered. (2) Ignoring the fixed factors for terminals, steamship transport per mile is roughly an order of magnitude cheaper than rail transport, even for 6,000-ft double-stacked trains. In terms of transport costs, going around the USA through the Panama Canal is much cheaper than going across the USA on rail, even in spite of the mileage penalty. It just takes much longer. Best regards, Rob L. [/quote] Awersome, thanks!
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag