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h-gac.com Serving Today • Planning for Tomorrowh-gac.com Serving Today • Planning for Tomorrow

Greater Houston Freight Committee

August 27, 2018

h-gac.com Serving Today • Planning for Tomorrow

Introduction/Welcome

Established in 2016 by the Transportation Policy Council (TPC) as recommended in the 2013 Regional Goods Movement Plan as well as guidance from the FAST Act.

Regularly engage and convene freight industry/goods movement partners in the region to understand how best to maintain an on-going conversation.

Involve private sector freight generators, shippers, and other logistics professionals.

Meet periodically to share information, make recommendations to the TPC, and assist/direct H-GAC staff in freight planning tasks.

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Committee Agenda Roundtable

Houston Region Freight Rail Study

Truck Parking Study

TxDOT PEL Studies Updates

• IH-10: IH-69 to SH-99 (Phase 1 Complete)

• IH-45: BW 8 North to Loop 336 South (Phase 1 Complete)

• IH-69: Spur 527 to BW 8 South (Phase 1 Complete)

• SH-225 (Procurement Phase)

North Houston Highway Improvement Project

• Development of Freight Movement Advisory Group

36A EIS Update

Southeast Harris County Mobility Study

Others?


Ports Area Mobility Study Update

August 27, 2018

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Agenda

Project Recap• Objectives • Activities

Project Deliverable StatusCommodity Flow & Supply Chain Analysis Potential Solutions

• Benefit Analysis• Solution Considerations


Study Objectives

Identify freight and goods supply chains that are dependent upon on the region’s port facilities Identify improvements to better facilitate port related freight

mobility:• Infrastructure and facilities• Multimodal improvements• Operational strategies• Policy-level changes

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Study Activities

Port profiles (complete) Rail Assessment (complete) Barge/Intracoastal Waterways Assessment

(complete)Data gathering and analysis

• Trade and cargo flow (complete)• Truck counts (complete)• Truck driver surveys (complete)• ATRI Truck GPS (complete)


Study Activities

Supply Chain Analysis (complete)• Transearch Dataset• Datamyne and • Third-party Interviews

Improvements Identification (complete) Travel Demand Modeling (on-going) Benefit-Cost Assessment (on-going)

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Project Deliverables

Final Report consisting of Technical Memorandums:• Port Profiles • Rail • Barge/Intracoastal Waterways• Highways (in progress)• Supply Chain• Commodity Flows• Solutions and Strategies (in progress)


Commodity Flow

• Data sourceso Texas DOT Transearch (2015)o STB Public and Confidential Rail Waybill Samples (2016)o Army Corps Waterborne Commerce of the US

• Coverageo Modal focuso Separate analyses for trucking, rail, short sea/inland watero Harris, Brazoria, Galveston Counties

• Documentationo Detailed Tech Memo

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Commodity Flows - Trucks

• Trucks moved 385 million tons worth 368 billion dollarso 86% of tons and 69% of value related to domestic trade o 14% of tons and 31% of value were related to international trade

• Trucks moved inbound to, outbound from, and within the three Port counties

o 40% of tons and 31% of value moved internallyo 36% of tons and 34% of value moved inboundo 25% of tons and 35% of value moved outbound


Distribution of Port County Trucks

• 79% of tons moved Texas-to-Texas (40% within the Port counties, 39% traded with the rest of Texas) and 21% of tons were trade with other states

• For the 12.4% associated with export and import moves, 8.7% moved Texas-to-Texas and 3.7% were traded with other states

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Truck O-D Patterns - Internal

• Remembering that 40% of truck tons move within the three Port counties: these moves are dominated by Harris County

o Harris accounts for 86% of the originated tonso Harris accounts for 85% of the terminated tons

• Harris-to-Harris moves account for 31% (120M/385M) of all truck tons inbound to, outbound from, or within the three port counties


Truck O-D Patterns -Outbound

• Remembering that 25% of truck tons move outbound from the three counties:

o Harris originates 84% of tons (80M out of 95M)

o 19 regions receive 54% of tons• Leading Texas destinations

o Fort Bend, Jefferson, Montgomery, Dallas, Bexar, Tarrant, Matagorda, Travis

• Leading Non-Texas destinationso California, Louisiana, Oklahoma,

Florida, Arkansas, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Arizona, Illinois

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Truck O-D Patterns - Inbound

• Remembering that 36% of truck tons move inbound to the three counties:

o Harris receives 88% of tons (120M out of 139M)

o 20 regions originate 77% of tons• Leading Texas destinations

o Jefferson, Bexar, Montgomery, Fort Bend, Comal, Dallas, Williamson, Colorado, Limestone, Nueces, Bell, Waller, Calhoun, Travis, Burnet

• Leading Non-Texas destinationso Louisiana, Illinois, Arkansas,

Oklahoma, Missouri


Port-Related Trucking

• Between 43 million tons (Transearch) and 72 million tons (USDOT FAF) out of 385 million

• 43% of truck tons related to exportso Harris terminates 78% of truck tons, Galveston 12%, Brazoria 10%o Largest origin-destination pair is Harris County to Harris County

• 57% of truck tons related to importso Harris originates 90% of truck tons, Galveston 3% Brazoria 7%o Largest origin-destination pair is Harris County to Harris County

Exports are more local, imports more national; Harris is the leading originating and terminating point; Harris-to-Harris is the most critical O-D pair; remainder of Texas and adjoining states are significant but other states less so for trucks.

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Rail Commodities for Port Counties

• Data Limitations• Top 12 commodities account

for 96% of carloadso Chemicals 32%, mostly

outboundo Intermodal 26%, mostly

inboundo Minerals 8%, inboundo Transportation equipment 8%,

mostly inboundo Petroleum products 7%, all

directionso Agriculture 6%, inbound


Origin States for Inbound Rail

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Destination States for Outbound Rail


Marine Highways and Texas Ports

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Marine Highways and the H-GAC Region


Supply Chain Analysis

• Differences from Commodity Flow Analysiso Industry focusedo Perishable Foods; Other Foods and Beverages; Other Agricultural Products;

Chemicals; Plastics in Primary Forms; Building Materials; Iron and Steel and Articles of Iron and Steel; Machinery; Motor Vehicles; Other Consumer Goods; key subgroups in each category

• Combines modal data with additional resourceso US Census Trade data and Commodity Flow Surveyo Datamyne import-export records (similar to PIERS)o County Business Patterns zip code level employmento Transearch and Freight Analysis Framework forecasts

• Validated with stakeholder interviews

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Example – Grain Exports

feed mills in southern China seeking cheaper substitutes for expensive domestically produced corn.


Example – Grain Exports

Texas counties originating grain exports through Houston

Texas counties originating grain exports through Galveston

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Feedback from Industries

Trucking Manpower and Congestion

The lack of available truckers, limitations on driving hours (and related expenses for required equipment) were mentioned as constraints, although these issues were seen as affecting overall service but not directly controllable by ports.

Similarly, growth in traffic both in the HGAC region and in more distant markets (e.g. Dallas), surges in freight traffic, and general congestion (e.g. between the Port of Houston and Baytown) were mentioned as potentially worsening the ability to move containers from the port to distribution centers with a need to improve/expand local roads.


Feedback from Industries

Container LogisticsThe ability to manage container movements and availability were common themes. This included:• The need to transload locally rather than use containers for distant delivery

(stranding the container that must be returned). • The difficulty in managing “street turns” to allow containers to be used more

efficiently. The general point is that there is no “system” in place to make this work given the participants are all independent actors.

The availability of extended gate times did not appear to be a general solution to truck delays due to variability due to seasonality, weather, freight timing uncertainties, etc. This could be a useful possibility if it could be responsive to short‐term conditions.

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Proposed Improvements

• Identified range of solutions and strategies that support o Infrastructure and facilitieso Multimodal improvementso Operational strategieso Policy-level changes

• Strategies/Solutions include o Extended gate times at container terminalso Terminal Gate Appointment Systemo Inland Porto Port centric warehousing etc.

o Freight Shuttleo Container on bargeo Virtual container yardo I-69 bypasso Independence Parkway Bridge


Solutions – Model based on Baytown

Imports ‐ circa 80,000 FEU

Exports ‐ circa 158,000 FEU*

* ‐ based on plastic resin exports only

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Virtual Container Yard (VCY)/Street turn

Already occurring in Houston, but unknown level of activity.


VCY/Street turn Benefits

Overall Saving of 1.9M truck miles per annum

Overall Saving of 1.9M Truck miles per annum

Virtual Container Yard Benefits Analysis Results (Millions, 2017 Dollars) thru to 2040

Benefit

CategoryUndiscounted Benefits

Travel Time

Savings$34.3

Accident

Cost Savings$10.1

Emissions

Cost Savings$5.5

Total $49.8

Container Flow Scenario 1 (FEU Containers) Comments

Imports 71,516 90% of import containers street turned to an export container

Exports 104,167

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VCY/Street turn Operating Strategies

• Appointing a Street Turn/Matchback coordinator for the regiono Funding to support a position – 12-18 monthso Hosted by an organization e.g. PoH, H-GAC, Texas Trucking Association

• Produce a Request for Expression of Interest (RFEI) for a system provider who supplies street turn solutions

o Administration of street turns is a barrier to increased adoptiono Matchback Systems incorporated into Port of LA Port Optimizer System


Freight Shuttle Type Concept

Source: Freight Shuttle Systems

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System 1. Shuttle between port container terminal and transfer yard and then truck to final destination

Two Scenarios• 60% of import and 90% export

containers• 20% of import and 50% export

containers



System 2. Shuttle between container terminal and customer facilities

Two Scenarios• 100% of import and export

containers• 60% of import and export

containers

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Freight Shuttle Type Concept - Benefits

System 1 System 2

60% of import and 90% export containers


100% of import and export containers

60% of import and export containers

Truck Travel Time

Savings (M)$162.2 $80.4 $265.3 $159.2

Accident Cost

Savings (M)$46.6 $23.1 $77.2 $46.3

Emissions Cost

Savings (M)$25.5 $12.6 $42.2 $25.3

Total (M) $234.3 $116.1 $384.6 $230.8

Annual Truck Mile Savings (M)

5.02 2.2 8.1 4.8

(Undiscounted benefits,Millions, 2017 Dollars) thru to 2040



• Competitive with trucking on time, operational considerations, labor resources

• Challenge is costo Infrastructure cost plus operational costs

• High density corridor to Baytown has attractive characteristics for Freight Shuttle Concepts

o Volume of Import and Export containerso Revenue flows in both directionso Heavy Weight containers (resin exports)

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Container-on-Barge

Existing barge facility• Existing services

focused with PoH

• Potential for others? E.g. Port of Freeport to Port of Houston


Container on Barge - Benefits

Scenario 1 Scenario 2



Truck Travel Time

Savings (M)$107.9 $68.7

Accident Cost

Savings (M)$27.5 $14.0

Emissions Cost

Savings (M)$8.6 $4.3

Total (M) $144 $87

Annual Truck Mile Savings (M)

3.02 1.49

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Container on Barge – Potential Solutions

• Challenge of integrating barge within terminal operations.

o Barge is second to ocean going vessels when assigning berths

o Lack of berth availability impacts barge reliability

o Segregate barge operations from ocean going vessels

Source: Port of Houston



• Potential solutions include:

o Self Discharging Barge

Source: Mercurius

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• Container Handling equipment

Source: Kalmar



• Dedicated barge facility

Source: Alpherium ‐ Holland

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I -69 Bypass

• Relief route around Houston Urban Core

• Connecting Wharton on the southwest to Cleveland/Livingston on the northeast

• Carrying traffic from Port of Freeport, Port of Galveston, Port of Houston to east, northeast and the north

• Grand Parkway and Route 146 as potential alignment


Independence Parkway Bridge

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Questions


Update on Texas Freight Advisory Committee

ActivitiesAugust 27, 2018

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Regional Goods Movement Plan Update

August 27, 2018


Regional Goods Movement Plan Update

Update to the 2013 Regional Goods Movement Plan

Regional Goods Movement Today

• Freight System in the MPO area

• Freight Significant Corridors and Facilities

• Commodity Flow Patterns

• Key Industries

Key Trends

• Employment/Population Growth

• International Trade

• Supply Chains

• Transportation Industry Trends

• Regulations and Policy

Key Issues and Challenges

• Growth outpacing capacity

• Managing Existing Capacity

• Community & Environmental Issues

Solutions and Recommendations

• Short Term

• Long Term

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Houston-Beaumont Freight Rail Study

Highway-Railroad Crossing Prioritization



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Rail-highway crossings are public-private partnerships

More freight trains moving = potentially fewer trucks

Looking for win-win projects: new bridge relieves congestion and allows room for railroads to operate and comply with federal rules.



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Schedule

Summer 2019: gather data for rail traffic modeling & seek feedback to identify community priorities

Fall 2019: model and assess potential rail operational improvements

Spring 2020: conceptual bridge design for grade separations at priority locations

Full report published in 2020



Email TxDOT: [email protected]

Internet search: Houston Rail Study

https://www.txdot.gov/inside-txdot/projects/studies/statewide/houston-beaumont-freight-rail.html

Contact TxDOT to get data on railroad crossings in your neighborhood or city or for help getting feedback from your community.

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Freight Activities from Committee

Committee attendees may briefly discuss current and future freight transportation efforts


AnnouncementsAugust 27, 2019

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Announcements

September Brown Bag Lunch Series – “Houston’s Resin Export Dominance”, featuring Jordan Frisby, Port Houston, Monday, September 16, 2019, Noon – 1:00pm, Room BNext Technical Advisory Committee Meeting – September 18,

2019, 9:30 am, Room BNext Transportation Policy Committee Meeting – September

27, 2019, 9:30 am, Room BNext Greater Houston Freight Committee Meeting (Tentative)

– December 5, 2019, 1:30, Room B


AdjournThank you!

greater houston freight...

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