Several decades ago the largest railroad in the nation
painted the slogan "Don't Stand Me Still" on the sides of some
of its boxcars in an effort to emphasize the importance of
equipment utilization.
While there is no evidence that the slogan had a big effect
on rail car utilization, it was certainly a creative idea
toward addressing the important issue of low equipment
productivity.
Now, with supply and demand in equilibrium, the barge
industry appears to be moving in the right direction to
increase barge utilization as supply gets tighter. To
accomplish this, several steps are necessary. One is to reduce
the amount of time a barge is idled while in the customer's
control. This is being accomplished through shorter "free time"
for loading and unloading. Another method is to keep the barge
constantly moving in tows instead of sitting in barge fleeting
areas.
The industry is moving toward more regular general tow
movements. First, by scheduling general tows, barge loading and
discharging cycles can be better planned and coordinated. The
old system of barge tows showing up whenever they get there
only works when there is no particular hurry for disposition of
the barges at either the origin or the destination.
The industry is also moving toward more general tow sharing
agreements on major long-haul/high-volume routes such as the
Lower Mississippi to Cairo/St. Louis. The customer really does
not know how the barge was moved from origin to destination.
When the towing companies can swap towing slots with each
other, barges can move faster because of the greater frequency
of tow departures.
While there are sure to be issues that arise when equipment
and operations are shared among competitors, carefully
executed, large barge operators can provide better services in
certain cargo sectors - particularly dry cargo - by pooling
equipment and tow slots. The customer is buying a service -
barge affreightment. The exact particulars of the service in
terms of which tows, pushboats, etc., are used, are not
particularly important when the major providers have similar
operations and equipment.
While more mergers among the few big surviving barge
operators are doubtful, consolidation of operations that affect
equipment and tows are much more likely.