Several localities on the East Coast are making plans to cut truck traffic by initiating short sea cargo deliveries.
The move is designed to cut metropolitan traffic problems by moving cargo shipments to barges along the Eastern seaboard. Trade is expected to double in the next 15 years, amounting to almost 10,000 new trucks on I-95 for both short and long hauls.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the city of Portland, Maine, have both started programs to attract more barge traffic. It is also reported that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have also begun to fund a new barge network, to include Wilmington, Delaware, Camden, New Jersey, Albany, New York, Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Providence, Rhode Island.
While barges can move hundreds of containers at a time, trucks have a faster transit time, despite traffic problems.
