摘要: |
The Conference Report to accompany the FY 2004 Omnibus Appropriations legislation directs the Maritime Administration (MARAD) to report to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations on the performance of the intermodal system with respect to the efficiency of the most congested ports. The conferees directed that: particular emphasis should be placed on summarizing the performance of the 14 strategic commercial ports during the military force build-up for Operation Iraqi Freedom and on identifying the most glaring deficiencies of the intermodal system as a whole. This report is to contain a thorough comparison of the most congested ports in terms of operational efficiency; identification of significant intermodal obstacles associated with each port; and a summary of future actions MARAD plans to take to address and improve the throughput of cargo in America's ports. The conferees expect MARAD to work with industry groups as well as the scientific community in the completion of this study. In this report, MARAD provides an assessment of the conditions at commercial ports, and the movement of military cargo through the intermodal system during the Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) buildup. MARAD's assessment includes the performance of the major components of the intermodal system: waterside, port/terminal intermodal interface, and landside movements. Particular emphasis is given to the ability of the nation's commercial freight transportation infrastructure to handle an unexpected surge in cargo during a military deployment, such as OIF. MARAD was unable to provide the requested comparison of the most congested ports in terms of operational efficiency due to a lack of consistent national port efficiency data. Given the diverse characteristics of U.S. ports, comparing port efficiency would require the creation of new methodologies and the collection of data that were not available for this report. To address this issue, MARAD developed an innovative approach to meet the Committees' request by collecting information directly via site visits and a limited number of structured interviews with stakeholders, rather than employing a traditional survey. |