Did You Know? 

How does the difference in density between fresh water and salt water impact ocean transportation?

Saltwater is more dense than freshwater.  For example, the density of freshwater in the Mississippi River in southern Louisiana is 0.999. The density of saltwater at Japanese ports is 1.025. Due to the more dense/heavier water in Japan, the vessel will automatically rise about 11.4 inches (29 centimeters). This explains one of the reasons saltwater ports are less susceptible to draft restrictions than freshwater ports.  Ships do not sink as much in saltwater.

In addition, a typical Panamax ocean vessel consumes approximately 30 tons of fuel per day.  If a journey from southern Louisiana to Japan requires 30 days, a ship will consume 900 tons of fuel.  On a Panamax vessel, it takes approximately 66 tons to sink the vessel 1 centimeter (0.39 inches).  Therefore, a vessel traveling from Southern Louisiana to Japan will rise in the water 5.35 inches (13.6 centimeters) due to utilizing 900 tons of fuel.  

Therefore, a Panamax ocean vessel can have a reduction in draft requirements of 16.75 inches by traveling from southern Louisiana to Japan.  

Draft – vertical distance between a ship's waterline and the lowest point of its keel.  Depth of water to which a ship sinks according to its load. Most ships have parallel horizontal lines drawn on both sides of the bow (front) and stern (back) to indicate each foot of draft.  

Status update on damage from Hurricane Sandy to Transportation Infrastructure

Freight railroads operating in the Northeast continue to post progress in their post-Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts.

Panama Canal Awards Contract to Build Bridge on the Atlantic Side

The contract to build a bridge on the Atlantic side of the Canal was awarded to Vinci Construction Grands Projets.

Panama Canal set tonnage record in FY2012

The Panama Canal set a volume record at 333.7 million Panama Canal (PC) tons in fiscal-year 2012, which ended Sept. 30. The volume bested the previous high-water mark of 312.9 million PC tons achieved in FY2007 and increased 3.6 percent compared with FY2011's 322.1 million PC tons.

UP’s unit train to southern California bulk grain transload operation up and running

Union Pacific Railroad last week completed its second full unit train movement of grain products from a newly opened transload facility northeast of Los Angeles to container terminals at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the Journal of Commerce reports.