Port and hinterland network: a case study of the Crescent Corridor intermodal freight program in the US

Continued rapid growth of globalization and international trade is increasing the importance of global freight transport and logistics management around the world. In particular, intermodal transport using two or more different modes of transport is extremely important to implement efficient logistics networks from ports to the hinterland. The Crescent Corridor Intermodal Freight Program is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) launched the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) discretionary grant program on June 17, 2009 and solicited applications for innovative, multi-modal and multi-jurisdictional transportation projects intended to provide significant economic and environmental benefits. Norfolk Southern's Crescent Corridor Program was awarded a TIGER grant in the amount of $105 million, split evenly towards the construction of two regional intermodal facilities in Tennessee and Alabama, on February 17, 2010. The program is essentially a public-private partnership with the U.S. Dept. of Transportation and will be completed in 2030. This empirical and qualitative study is based on analysis of published U.S. government documents, state and regional legislative documents, freight railroad company documents and the PIERS data. This study focuses on the Crescent Corridor Intermodal Freight Program from the Gulf Coast to the Northeast as an example intermodal project in the U.S., describes the individual projects and evaluates the effectiveness of the various projects to obtain strategic insights for application to other regions.