Introduction
Luis (2009) claims that the United States has more than 300 seaports with different functions and capacities and most of these seaports are intricate entities that entail transportation through other modes such as rail, road, air, and water. As such, these ports are significant and forms part of the United States Maritime Transportation System, which also incorporates coastal, inland waterways as well as intermodal connectors. Although this sector plays a significant role inimproving the economic aspects of the U.S., the sector faces various challenges,butmost crippling is the security and congestion challenges.
The transportation sector suffers from numerous challenges including security and safety. As such, Platon (2012) asserts that these challenges have been fueled as a result of underfunding of this sector despite infrastructural aging and breakdown, which is currently posing new risks which have implications on the lives of individuals using it. However, multimodal transportation is one of the solutions that are believed to resolve these challenges affecting transportation congestion and seaport security. Moreover, multimodal transportation is a science-based and cost-effective solution that would amicably address the most crucial problems related to security, safety, and planning (Luis, 2009). The coordination of the transportation sector to facilitate operation without disruptions would play an important role in the reduction of the congestion in U.S. seaports and intermodal facilities hence improving their productivity and efficiency.
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Problem statement
The problem of congestion has for a long time been at the core of every seaport in the world. The security of cargo and the U.S. seaports, in general, has also been faced with challenges like inadequate government funding. Besides, the United States is already facing challenges related to congestion in various traffic modes,particularly in highways. Furthering this, experts project that the U.S. should expect an in the coming years an increase in the volume of trucks on the highways which will further worsen the current congestion problem.Therefore, failure to address this issueby establishing decongestion strategies at the seaports will result in a reduction in efficiency as well as well as deteriorated productivity in the sector. As such, the justification for this topic is the need to get insight into the relationship between port security and congestion in transportation as a way of handling the problem that seaports face in general. This will help in identifying amicable solutions that can be implemented to improve efficiency, security, as well as the productivity of the U.S seaports.
Definition of Terms
Agile Port System – This is marine terminals capable of accommodating different types of cargoes as well as various quantities (Luis, 2009). The system reduces disruptions of operations within the terminals since they offer high flexibility as well as the allocation of commercial material capacities which can also be utilized for military loading. As such, these ports utilize IT solutions to smoothen marine terminal communication particularly during truck traffic management and other maritime operations.
Port Security Grant Program – This is a program that is put in place to meet the costs related to the 2002 Maritime Transpiration Security Act (Luis, 2009). As such, the program is primarily focused on enhancing national security in seaports with viable financial strategies in collaboration with various state security agencies.
Research Question
The research will first seek to find the reasons that contribute to the congestion if it exists, and any deliberate measures taken to ease the congestion. In addition to this, research into the measures taken to improve security in the port will be lookedinto. The project will finally research on the issues that touch both congestion and security and congestion in the U.S. seaports and a correlation of whether one contributes to the other will be checked. Essentially, this research is aimed at answering the following question: What causes congestion in the U.S. transportation sector, and the security concerns in the U.S. seaports, and what are the most effective solutions for U.S. transportation decongestion and security enhancement of the seaports?
Literature Review
Various scholars have looked on the possibility of improving the efficiency and decongestion of the U.S. transport system as well improvement of security in the U.S. seaports. AS such, Luis (2009) suggests a multimodal network system as the most ideal, efficient and effective alternative to solve these challenges. The multimodal system providesa dependableflow model between North American ports and other countries.As such, the flow model is vital in estimating the volume of containers flowing through various seaports in the U.S. Furthermore, Platon (2012) suggests that the implementation of multi-commodity network flow has facilitated demand estimation at the seaports in the Asia Pacific region. This model allows the study of the cargo flow sensitivity between seaports regarding efficiency, port charges, and shipping costs. The Maritime Administration isworking in collaboration with various stakeholders in reviewing and reaching national abilities to assist in decongestion of seaports as well as in enhancing their efficiency and security.
Discussion of Topic Ideas and Problem
Based on the literature review, the answer to the research question requires a thorough analysis of the alternative mode of the transport system to come up with a viable solution. Thisincludes listing the merits and demerits of an individual mode of transport to find a balance between the selected option. Besides, a single transport system cannot solve this enigma hence a union of several systems is required to ensure the strategic solutions implemented will be long-lasting.
This topic can be essential towardss improving the economic value of the United States. There have been many incidences of delays and security concerns in the transport sector. As such, the less utilized mode of transport systems such as railway, sea and air transport can be further expanded through adequate funding to improve the efficiency in seaport through faster clearance of goods in the seaports.
Potential New Solutions
It is important to note that congestions and delays in the U.S. seaports are as a result of failures related to other modes of transportation particularly those that are responsible for carrying cargoes from the seaports to the mainland. Possible solutions to curb this enigma, decongested transportation sector,as well as improve efficiency and security in seaports includethe development of the railway, road, waterborne, and air transportationas alternatives. Railway sector used by the railroad organizations to supply the locality from the East Coast seaports should be developed and optimized to increase their carrying capacity of cargoes into the Midwest as well as efficient in terms of time taken to deliver. The development of the railway system as an alternative can boost the performance of the industries that rely on the fast exportation and importation of goods. Besides, the timely delivery of goods, as well as the movement of large quantities of goods using rail, can in turn help in improving the movement of freight at the seaports. As such, large-scaled expansion strategies should be put in place to improve various rail terminals in the move to decongest the U.S. seaports. However, critics argue that the expansion of the seaports and their terminals will most likely result in more cargo passing through those seaports which will necessitate further improvement of the transportation system as there will be possible congestion. Besides, companies that used to used other smaller seaports will prefer the larger seaports thereby impeding the reliability of the deliveries.
Further development of waterborne transport can ease the challenges currently facing the transportation sector and the seaports. This mode of transport is fuel efficient and less associated with the rule of law that put restrictions about prohibiting its usage. As such, shipping companies can capitalize on this mode of transport to improve their movement of cargo from one terminal to the other hence the economies of scale (Platon, 2012). Besides, cargo diversion using this mode of transport suggests that the seaports will have a feasible alternative upon which theefficiency in costs can be realized due to the economies of scale achieved.
Road transport is the least viable option for seaports decongestion. This is because the trucks have a maximum recommended carrying capacity as well as the maximum allowableweight of the cargo by the rule of law hence this frustrates the efforts and chances for seaports decongestion. Besides, apart from dire pollution, the trucks bear weight on the non-renewable resources such as fuel which implies that they do not costeffective. Moreover, the cost related to the maintenance of roads is relatively high compared to other modes of transportation. Finally, trucks are susceptible to accidents which might hinder the efficient movement of goods on roads (Luis, 2009). As such, unless more trucks are increased on the road to help in decongestion of the seaports, road transportation is the lastalternative to be implemented due to its inefficiency.
Experts in the air transportation sector insist on the importance of cargo management through a global decision on support systems.Perishable good can be transported through this mode of transport due to its timely delivery (Luis, 2009). However, air traffic controllers are required to facilitate the smooth running of the airport operations for management of cargo in the seaports. Besides, the creation of designated landing zones sometimes can be challenging particularly in urban areas.
Finally, adequate funding of the seaports is another approach to promote the security of the ports. Previous cases of underfunding have resulted in poor infrastructural facilities in seaports. As such, the funds can be used in upgrading seaports’ facilities including physical security features and human resource management.This will, in turn, improve the security of the seaports hence becoming less prone to outside threats (Platon, 2012).
Conclusion
The efficiency and security of seaports are critical in the management of cargoand other business operations. A multimodal approach is the best alternative for decongesting the transportation sector and improve its efficiency. Therefore, to guarantee the functioning of this approach, an ideal transport system is required to be identified. Water and railway transportation are some of the ideal transport systems that are efficient and cost-effective in ferrying large quantities of cargo hence easing the burden of congestion in the seaports. Adequate funding of the seaport can help in improving the infrastructural facilities of the seaports which in turn will improve the security.
References
Luis, B. A. (2009). Modeling the effects of a transportation security incident on the commercial transportation system. Calhoun: The NPS Institutional Archive. Theses and Dissertations . Online at http://www.nps.edu/library
Platon, S. (2012). Re-launching intermodal freight transport-A new approach. Railway passenger transport in the sustainable mobility agenda . Retrieved from:conferinte.club-feroviar.ro/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/science/Martie_aprilie.pdf#page=80
