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Texas Transportation Institute News

14 Mar 2022

Interview: Jennifer Carpenter, President & CEO, AWO

Jennifer Carpenter, President & CEO, The American Waterways Operators (Photo: AWO)

Jennifer Carpenter joined The American Waterways Operators (AWO), the national trade association representing the inland and coastal tugboat, towboat and barge industry, in August 1990 and became its president and CEO in January 2020. She weighs in some of the most important developments in the industry today, from “hugely exciting” opportunities in offshore wind , tech innovation and decarbonization, to labor and recruitment challenges.The recent Infrastructure bill is a huge boost for many industries…

16 Mar 2017

Dinh-Zarr to Serve as NTSB Acting Chairman

Bella Dinh-Zarr (Photo: NTSB)

Christopher A. Hart’s term as Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board concluded on schedule Wednesday and Vice Chairman Bella Dinh-Zarr will serve as the agency’s acting chairman. Hart will remain at the NTSB, applying his transportation safety expertise in the capacity of a board member. The NTSB has five board members, each nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate to serve five-year terms. By statute, a board member is designated by the President as Chairman and another as Vice Chairman for two-year terms. The Chairmanship requires separate Senate confirmation.

28 Sep 2016

Rethinking Inland Infrastructure Finance

Photo: Ruben Diaz

P3: An alternative to tolls or lockage fees in public-private partnerships for inland waterways. Within the generally sorry state of the U.S. inland waterways infrastructure, there are some locations where conditions are particularly dire. Among those in this latter situation are several locks and dams on the Illinois River, including the La Grange Lock and Dam and the Peoria Lock and Dam, both of which were completed in 1939. Both of them are on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, which is a dubious distinction for a major transportation facility of the twenty-first century.

18 Feb 2015

The Quest to Fund Inland Waterways

Infrastructure Projects: Perhaps Not So Quixotic After All? Over the course of 2014, significant steps forward were taken in the quest to find additional sources of funding for inland waterways infrastructure projects. First came the long awaited and much-celebrated Water Resources, Reform and Development Act of 2014 (WRRDA) in June, which included several provisions to address the funding needs of the ever-worsening condition of the inland waterways infrastructure. WRRDA eased…

26 Nov 2014

WRRDA: Clearing the Channel for P3 Projects

Earlier this year, the U.S. maritime industry in general, and the inland waterways industry in particular, celebrated the long-awaited passage of the Water Resources, Reform and Development Act of 2014. Among the accomplishments of this legislation were provisions to address the funding needs of the ever-worsening condition of the inland waterways infrastructure. Among these provisions are Sections 2004 and 5014 of WRRDA. Of the two provisions, the public-private partnership (P3) pilot program under Section 5014 has received substantially more attention in the maritime press and at industry conferences than have the studies of federally tax-exempt bonds and potential sources of additional revenue for the IWTF under Section 2004.

16 Jul 2014

ACL Recognizes Safe Liquid Cargo Handlers

Photo: ACL

American Commercial Lines presented Marine Environmental Stewardship Awards on Wednesday, July 16 in Houston, Texas, recognizing 35 customers for safe handling of chemicals, petroleum products and other liquid cargos. The customers recognized by ACL safely handled over two billion gallons of chemicals, petroleum products and other liquid cargoes with the barge transportation company in 2013. Recipients of the award are: Axiall Corporation; BASF Corporation; Bayer Corporation; Bunge North America…

03 Jul 2014

WRRDA: Charting a New Course

Out of a Congress long on budgetary constraints and short on bipartisanship has come the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014 (WRRDA)—and by wide margins, no less. In my more cynical moments, I am tempted to think that this is because the marine transportation industry is so invisible to most members of Congress that they do not consider it to be worth fighting over. My better self knows that WRRDA is here because our cause is just and our arguments compelling. (Chairman Shuster should receive a MacArthur Fellowship just for the drawing graphic, which is now everywhere. In case you missed it, check it out at http://transportation.house.gov/wrrda).

15 Feb 2013

Bulk Transport Leadership: Clark Todd

Clark A. Todd, President and COO of Blessey Marine Services, Inc. in New Orleans. Blessey owns and operates one of the youngest, multi-faceted inland tank barge and towing vessel fleets in the United States.

Drought and ensuing low river levels continue to affect the inland industry. Low water between St. Louis and Cairo, Illinois has threatened traffic on the Mississippi River since December. For months, dredging operations have slowed vessels at points along the river's course. Since December, a stretch at Thebes, Illinois, has been shut for much of each day as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers removes rock pinnacles. A panel of five executives weighed in on a host of topics regarding inland transportation as part of a round table discussion published in the February print edition of Marine News.

16 Mar 2012

NWF Releases Modal Transportation Comparison Update

Michael Hennessey, Chairman, National Waterways Foundation.

National study Updated: Compares freight trdansportation by barge, truck and train. Barges Superior in Terms of Fatalities, Injuries, Spills and Environmental/Societal Impacts. The National Waterways Foundation (NWF) has released an update of a 2007 study comparing selected societal, environmental, and safety impacts of utilizing inland river barge transportation to highway and rail transportation. Titled “A Modal Comparison of Freight Transportation Effects on the General Public…

16 Jun 2009

U.S. Waterways: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Study

Acting for the National Waterways Foundation (NWF), the Center for Ports and Waterways at the Texas Transportation Institute, Texas A&M University, has amended their 2007 study, “A Modal Comparison of Freight Transportation Effects on the General Public” to include a comparison of  Green House Gas (GHG) emissions between inland river barge transportation, highway and rail transportation. The research team focused on Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions, which are currently the focus of the public policy debate on Green House Gasses. Using EPA parameters, the team calculated how much CO2 is emitted per ton mile for each mode. Emissions per ton mile are those emissions experienced in moving one ton of cargo one mile.

18 Jun 2008

Interview: Jim McCarville, Executive Director, Port of Pittsburgh

Jim McCarville, Executive Director, Port of PIttsburgh

Jim McCarville, Executive Director, Port of Pittsburgh shares with readers of MarineLink.com his insights on key market drivers for the coming year. If you could change or improve one policy in the federal government that affects your business's bottom line, what would it be? JM: The federal government, unfortunately, looks at transportation projects as stovepipes, failing to grasp that a decision to make or not make waterway improvements will impact other modes of transportation.

10 Mar 2008

MarAd: Study Confirms Benefits of Moving Freight on Inland Waterways

A new joint study by government and industry confirms the efficiency, cost-savings and environmental benefits of moving freight on 's inland waterways. The study, titled "A Modal Comparison of Freight and Transportation Effects on the General Public," was conducted by 's Texas Transportation Institute, and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration and the National Waterways Foundation. Considering river barge transportation along certain corridors in the nation, researchers compared that mode's cargo capacity and fuel efficiency with over-the-road trucks and trains. They also compared the overall safety of the three modes; the impact of building and maintaining roads, rails and ports; and the environmental impact of each mode.

09 Feb 2007

Bayport Container Terminal Grand Opening

About 800 elected officials, port commissioners, community leaders, labor leaders and representatives of the maritime industry turned out on February 8 to watch the arrival of a new era in the containerized cargo market. The Berth of Bayport Container and Cruise Terminal provided the 800 guests the opportunity to witness the opening phase of the most technologically advanced container terminal on the U.S. Gulf Coast. The Port of Houston Authority dominates the U.S. Gulf Coast containerized cargo market. Currently, PHA handles 64 percent of that market along the U.S. Gulf, and 94 percent of the waterborne containers moving through Texas. Most of that activity takes place at PHA's companion container terminal at Barbours Cut.