Multimodal Freight Transportation Within the Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence Basin

Book excerpt: "TRB's National Cooperative Freight Research Program (NCFRP) Report 17: Multimodal Freight Transportation Within the Great Lakes--Saint Lawrence Basin describes the current multimodal freight transportation system within this bi-national region--Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Ontario, and Quebec--and its importance to regional, United States, and Canadian economies. The report also analyzes the system's overall performance and related opportunities and constraints to improving performance and to meet projected freight flows. The report includes an analysis of each mode's capacity and the major commodities each of them moves; the barriers and constraints that impact each mode's ability to move cargo; the performance implications in terms of major commodity supply chains (coal, automotive parts and machinery, containerized consumer goods, grains, and iron ore); and a strategic freight planning process for multimodal transport chain performance going forward."--Publisher's description.