Barge Lines Research Articles

A simulation-based software system for barge dispatching and boat assignment in inland waterways

In this paper, the authors present a simulation-based scheduling system designed to assist in barge dispatching and boat assignment problems for inland waterways. Specifically, the system assists in the assignment of barge freight to boats. The simulation platform provides the ability to explicitly consider time-based cost trade-offs between barge handling requirements and equipment dwell time. The efficacy of use for the system is demonstrated via case studies utilizing data provided by American Commercial Barge Line, LLC (ACBL) for the Ohio River in North America. The scheduling system described herein is now being implemented as ACBL’s primary dispatching tool for the Ohio River. Results indicate that the solution approach is viable for general use in large-scale dispatching and load assignment problems on major commercial rivers.

Barge fleet layout optimization

This paper addresses the problem of layout optimization for barge fleet operations. In this context, layout refers to the positioning and allocation of river-based tow building sites for tow building, breaking, and cleaning operations in support of commodity shipments via barge transport. An integer programming model is developed and tested to solve the problem using data and information supplied by American Commercial Barge Lines (ACBL) for their Cairo, Illinois tow building site. This mathematical model assigns tow breakdown and building activities to various fleet locations. The optimal allocation of barge volume to fleet locations minimizes fleet boat travel cost while considering various problem-dependent constraints, such as fleet location capacity, average handling time at each location, and total volume of barges inbound/outbound to/from various river segments. In addition, the model determines the minimum cost location for barge cleaning activities based on both fixed costs and travel costs to and from cleaning locations. This model is currently being used to optimize fleet operations at several fleet facilities on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

Impacts of Participatory Safety Rules Revision in U.S. Railroad Industry: An Exploratory Assessment

Increasingly, the proliferation of safety rules is viewed not just as a nuisance but also as a threat to safety itself. Indeed, voluminous and overlapping rules might contribute to poor compliance because of confusion and disagreement about which rules are to be followed. When combined with the existing regime of fault-based injury liability laws governing the industry, rules often become the focus of worker–management conflict rather than tools for communication about safety hazards and solutions. An exploratory assessment of participatory rules revision as an instrument of safety improvement in the U.S. railroad industry is presented. A key premise of the intervention is that rules proliferation is symptomatic of deeper problems with the organizational safety culture that can be addressed through extensive stakeholder participation in the revision process. Data for the study came from three railroads and one in-land barge line. While interview data provided evidence for an impact on the safety culture, initial statistical analysis of the incident data failed to find decreases in incident rates associated with the advent of the formal rules revision process. Further exploration, however, suggested that the intervention actually began earlier with various preparatory activities. Statistical analysis of this revised hypothesis found a significant impact of the intervention on incident rates at one rail carrier, while incident rate declines at two other carriers could not be attributed to the intervention with confidence.

Pollution Prevention and Bilge Water Recovery

At American Commercial Barge Line Co. (ACBL), protection of the marine environment is a top operating priority. As part of this commitment, every effort is made, using ingenuity and technology, in pollution prevention. An example of pollution prevention in practice at ACBL is the recovery of petroleum from bilge water (an oil/water mixture that collects in the bottom of a towboat), which is then blended into virgin fuel for use on ACBL towboats or resold as a cutter stock to a petroleum company. The source of petroleum in the bilge water is the diesel engines that power the towboat. The petroleum fraction is typically 30 percent. The bilge water is pumped from containment tanks on the boat into larger storage tanks at fueling or repairing facilities. ACBL currently operates a certificated barge that is dispatched to the various fueling and repair facilities to collect bilge water. This barge takes the mixture to American Commercial Liquid Terminal (ACLT) in Memphis, Tennessee. A process separates the oil from the water. The recovered oil is then blended with virgin diesel fuel for ACBL’s towboat fleet, used as ACLT boiler fuel, or sold as a cutter stock for ocean vessels. The separated water moves through a series of treatment tanks and an ultrafiltration system. The purified water is discharged into the Mississippi River according to a Tennessee National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. In 1996 and 1997 combined, this process recovered 4.2 million L (1.1 million gal) of oil, which is material that was disposed of as waste in the past. ACBL is making a difference and embracing the principles of pollution prevention.

The Tug Fleet Size Problem for Barge Line Operations: A Polynomial Algorithm

In this paper the problem of minimizing the number of tugs required to transport a given number of barges between different ports in a river system is considered. The problem has traditionally been viewed as a vehicle routing problem and thus routing heuristics have been used. Advantage is taken of the feature that transfer time at ports is negligible, and the problem is modeled differently. A one-pass algorithm is developed which solves the problem in O(n) time. Extensions are made dealing with general river system structures and stochasticity in the demand pattern.

Operational Planning and Control in Transportation Systems

The structure of operational planning and control processes, and models used within this structure, are reviewed for a large class of transportation systems which employ vehicles to deliver transportation services to a clientele that is not part of the same enterprise. Examples for transportation systems in this class are airlines (passenger, conventional freight as well as package carriers), railroads, motor freight carriers, urban transit systems (bus as well as rapid and light rail), and ship and barge lines. The review is based largely on the format and terminology used by commercial airlines. Important differences in other types of transportation systems are outlined.

Efficiency drive comes to chemical transport

In the highly regulated field of chemical transportation cost-conscious producers, uncertain of the effects of deregulation, will attempt to streamline operations to optimize use of all carriers. The most obvious changes will be in the railroad, trucking and barge lines that carry most chemicals to market. Chemical companies will pay more attention to safety and will optimize their use of various types of transportation. The aim will be to emphasize regular bulk shipment and reduce small-volume, irregular shipments. This will mean more barging and unit trains and less trucking. This article discusses the cost of distribution of chemicals and the targets among carrier modes for cost savings. A survey showed that highway modes account for 47% of the total chemical transportation, railroads just under 47% and barges only 6%. Chemical companies which feel that the best potential break on increasing transportation costs is competition among carriers, are backing deregulation or proposals for less regulation. The possible effects of deregulation of railroads and of lesser regulation of inland waterway carriers are discussed.

The Federal Barge Line

The Federal Barge Line

By Barge—River Transportation's Confluence

The United States is drawing a new transportation map, abandoning routes and canceling out transport services. On this new map, there will be more miles of inland waterways but fewer miles of railroads. All freight carriers are curtailing common-carrier services. The navigable rivers and canals played a principal role in settling America, were a factor in the industrial revolution, and helped decentralize industry after World War II. River-rail and river-truck trans-shipping facilities have multiplied manyfold as thousands of mass-production industries and mass-distribution agencies have moved to the inland navigation channels. Common-carrier barge lines are losing business to the contract and private carriers and have organized their own association to make common cause with the railroads and the common-carrier truck lines. Divided into two camps, the barge and towing vessel industry seems to be losing the battle against federal tolls on the river freight traffic, a battle which divides the South and Middle West against the East and Far West. Many great corporations—oil, steel, coal, electric power, farm co-operatives, cement, chemicals, building materials, aluminum, paper —have a stake in this coming legislative debate in the nation's capital. River men see more traffic in the future but no more revolutionary changes.

The Railroad Problem: ‘A Compound of Several Brews’

THE RAILROAD PROBLEM may properly be described as a compound of several brews. First, the industry is still regulated as if it were a monopoly as it was at the turn of this century, although admittedly the regulatory climate has improved markedly since passage of the Transportation Act of 1958 which relieved the industry somewhat from the necessity of holding an umbrella over rates quoted by its principal competitors, the truckers and the barge lines. Secondly, a large network of modern freeways and/or turnpikes, inland waterways and airports has been built with the aid of federal and state funds. This would not be too serious a competitive factor were it not that such extensive facilities were in effect heavily subsidized for lack of imposition of user charges. As a consequence of the failure to levy proper user charges, barge lines are subsidized to the extent of almost 100%, airlines 60%, and truckers probably slightly in excess of 50%. Only a rich country like the United States could afford the luxury of spending some $160 billion for such competitive transportation facilities. Even today highway costs exceed $10 billion annually, and overall costs including those for airports and for inland waterways, $10.75 billion annually. The extent of such Federal largesse is indicated in Table 1.

Diversification—Key to Transportation Progress

TRANSPORT DIVERSIFICATION, or common ownership of various modes of transportation, holds much promise of substantial benefits for the public-through the removal of regulatory barriers to more efficient and economical transportation. Transportation companies whether they be motor carriers, barge lines, airlines or railroads -sell the same commodity; the movement of things from one place to another. These segments of transportation constitute one of the nation's greatest industries-the transportation industry. There are variables in the methods and functions of the transportation industry, such as the means of transport, cost of service, flexibility of service, piggyback, containerization, transit time, volume, time for movement and frequency of service.

The Scheduling of a Barge Line

This paper is the case history of an operations-research study of a barge line undertaken in the summer of 1954. One problem considered was the scheduling of tugs and the determination of the resulting number of barge loads per year which would result. The second problem was to determine the proper balance between tugs and barges for three or four tugs. These problems were solved by simulating the operation, the results of the simulation led to recommendations and predictions. These predictions are compared to the actual data over the ensuing years as the recommendations were carried out.