Simplistic Geospatial Techniques in Analyzing Transportation Dynamics for Origin-Destination Container Movement Routes in the United States

Abstract

Spatial analyses incorporating rudimentary techniques are essential to understand container transportation. Most transportation datasets are offered as raw disjoint data containing dissimilar attributes from different sources making them difficult to fathom any spatial linkages. Route optimization and market accessibility are increasingly becoming important and significant as newer container decongestion methods are put in place. Origin-Destination dichotomies can best be harnessed in the United States by optimizing routes based on available databases. In this study, the Public Use Waybill sample database from Surface Transporation Board were used as preliminary inputs for inland railway route optimization. The paper utilized an approach akin to one used in riverine management to optimize container routes. From the primer databases, in as much as most import containers originate from Asia and Europe and shipped to the U.S. through specific North American ports, a significant portion gets to inland markets through Pacific coast in the U.S. The main hub ports for import containers are Los Angeles/Long Beach and Seattle for transpacific trade and New York/New Jersey and Savannah for transatlantic trade. An anomalous and notably high volume flow can be observed between the Pacific coast and the Mississippi valley area including metropolitan areas like Minneapolis, Chicago, Kansas City, Memphis, Dallas, and Houston. Assessing movement in the Midwest to east U.S., most container traffic volume passes through New York/New Jersey and Norfolk to end in Chicago. It can thus be surmised that an in-depth preliminary assessment of container routing can provide a parametric basis for higher-level cost and multi-modal analyses.