Page 8: of Marine News Magazine (September 2014)

BY THE NUMBERSTable 1-2 listed the number of Air Carriers, Railroads, Interstate Motor Carriers, Marine Vessel Operators, and Pipeline Operators in these United States. We culled out the maritime numbers for inspection, and as expected the numbers tell a predictable tale. Despite steady growth in the ?non-self propelled? numbers, those numbers actually peaked in 1990. But, the size of these units has increased steadily over time; hence the total cubic capacity or dead- weight in this category is probably up. No doubt the dip in the economy within the last  ve years didn?t help, ei- ther. Ocean going U.S.  ag tonnage steadily continues to decrease, although the BTS accounting lags 2014 data, and doesn?t show the uptick in deep draft build- ing over the last 24 months. The number of recreational vessels has simply exploded over the course of the last 5 decades. The dip shown in 2011 is likely the function of a deeply recessed economy still trying to recover. And, recreational boats tend to be luxury purchases. Another interesting statistic maintained by BTS is the number of Passenger Miles recorded on Ferry Boats. Al- though some of this is no doubt recreational and tourism driven, we can only hope that the (slowly) rising num- bers indicate an increase in America?s Marine Highways and that folks are getting out of their car (at least for the commuter ride) and onto a boat for their daily trip to the of ce.U.S. ton-miles of freight: this particular table clearly re-  ects the result of a contracting economy in the year im- mediately following the 2008 economic meltdown that gripped the United States. All categories ? with the in- teresting exception of intraport transport ? contracted during that time frame; some severely. We?d like to think it was a harbinger of an increased shortsea shipping pro- gram, but without some relief from the dreaded harbor maintenance tax on the intraport portion of water trans- port, that?s unlikely to be the case. And, it goes without saying that the maritime share of domestic cargo ? de- spite an environmental footprint that clearly eclipses its intermodal cousins ? still lags badly in comparison. Your thoughts?Table 2-45 outlines Waterborne Transportation Safety and Property Damage Data Related to Vessel Casualties. All deaths and Injuries cited result from Vessel casualties, such as groundings, collisions,  res, or explosions. The data is for all commercial Vessels under U.S. jurisdiction, including U.S.  ag Vessels anywhere in the world and foreign  ag Vessels within the jurisdiction of the United States (within 12 miles, or having an interaction with a U.S. entity, such as a platform within 200 miles, or a collision with a U.S. ship). Commercial  shing Vessels are included. In general terms, performance is mixed for these vessels, with the number of deaths and accidents trending downward. There is, as the table amply shows, a lot of room for improvement. Table 2-3: For comparison, Table 2-3 shows Transporta- tion Accidents by Mode. It?s dif cult to make an apples- to-apples comparison with these numbers, especially since the disparity in the number of vehicles versus boats is quite large. That said, about one-half of the highway accidents involve freight trucks. About 55 percent of waterborne accidents involve commercial traf c. In the years since 1970, the number of recreational boats on the water has more than doubled, hence the increase in ac- cidents should, perhaps, not be unexpected. During the same timeframe, commercial hulls increased by almost 49 percent, while related accidents more than doubled. All modes re ect an increase in traf c and all modes could use considerable improvement in their safety records. BTS National Transportation Statistics Updated: In July, the U.S. Department of Transportation?s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) updated Na- tional Transportation Statistics (NTS) ? a web-only reference guide to national-level transportation data. NTS, updated quarterly, includes a wide range of national transportation information and consists of more than 260 tables of national data on the transportation system, safety, the economy and energy and the environment, of which 44 were updated today. These numbers tend to lag as much as 3-4 years behind in their capture and dissemination to the general public. It is hard work, apparently, chasing the digits. The next quarterly update is scheduled for October. This month, we took a closer look at the newest  gures. 8 MNSeptember 2014MN Sept14 Layout 1-17.indd 8MN Sept14 Layout 1-17.indd 88/21/2014 9:27:26 AM8/21/2014 9:27:26 AM