Comparing Maritime Versus Railway Transportation Costs

Several years ago, two independent studies compared maritime to railway transportation costs involving the movement of containers. It seems possible to expand on those studies to estimate transportation costs of containers arriving from overseas points of origin, at certain North American destinations.Cost EstimatesA study presented by Sea Point Group suggested that maritime transportation could save some $2,000-per container over railway transportation when moving containers between Long Beach CA and Memphis TN. The railway distance is approximately 2,000 miles while the maritime distance via the Panama Canal is 4,355 nautical miles to New Orleans and another 400 nautical miles along the Lower Mississippi River. At the time, neo-Panamax ships carried containers from Shanghai and Hong Kong to Long Beach at a cost of some $4,800 per container over a voyage of 6,000 nautical miles, or a cost of $0.80 per nautical miles.Using that cost between Long Beach and New Orleans suggests a per con...