The 2005 report demonstrated that a cessation of ocean-shipping on the Great Lakes would incur a $55 million cost increase by the use of alternative modes of transportation. The report marked a turning point in the public debate on what action to take to combat invasions to the Great Lakes by suggesting the use of alternative transportation modes as a solution to invasive species prevention. The main vector by which aquatic invasive species, like the zebra mussel, have entered the Great Lakes in recent years has been through ocean-vessel transportation.
“Our ongoing work has been focused on studying the impacts of transportation scenarios that could both facilitate trade and address current problems on the Great Lakes. Such scenarios for moving freight have previously been under analyzed,” said John Taylor, lead author from Grand Valley State. “Our recent report examines and refutes assertions that transhipment would destroy jobs, increase air pollution and clog roads and rail lines. We hope this research provides an objective basis for public discourse and additional investigations.”
Among the research findings is if ocean-vessels were no longer permitted to travel on the Great Lakes, over 1,300 domestic jobs would be created to move international cargo by rail, laker, or truck. Many of these jobs would stay in the Great Lakes region for workers on lake vessels, barges, trains and trucks. Some jobs would re-locate to Canadian ports on the St. Lawrence River, and some to the east coast and Gulf of Mexico. Dr. Taylor went on to say that “while we are not suggesting ocean ships be stopped to create domestic jobs, industry assertions that an end to ocean shipping would cost jobs are just plain wrong.”
Shipping interests have stated that transhipment and the use of truck and rail to move the cargo currently transported on ocean-vessels would have a significant impact on air quality. Air emissions were compared across all three modes. Waterborne vessels have a small advantage in some of the categories related to CO, NOX and HC, but rail is far preferable to waterborne transportation in emission categories such as PM-10 and SOX. The research points to the low total tonnage moved on ocean-vessels and concluded that there would be no significant impact on air quality through modal shifts.
Other key findings:
- On average for the last five years, ocean vessels carry about 12.1 million metric tons of cargo annually on the Great Lakes, or about 6% of all Great Lakes maritime tonnage with laker vessels carry the other 94%..
- The total volume of ocean vessel traffic is about the amount that could be carried by a medium density single-track rail line or a single daily tug/barge on the Lower Mississippi.
- There is adequate capacity in the Great Lakes transportation system to carry cargo currently carried by ocean vessels.
- Truck traffic in the eastern U.S. and Canada would increase by far far less than 1%, and would only approach that on Highway 401 west of Montreal where there would be an additional 89 trucks per day. The number of extra trucks would be less on other routes.
- Rail traffic would grow by the equivalent of 1.6 trains per day spread over the entire rail system in the region. Rail executives indicate that rail congestion is not a problem in the east on the routes in question and that the railroads could handle this additional traffic.
