SOLAR TODAY - April 2010

SOLAR TODAY®
april 2010
VOl. 24, NO. 3

Rising fuel prices force rapid evolution in cargo transportation.

By SETH MASiA

it can move a tiny fraction of the crop. J.B. Hunt, the nation’s largest trucking company, now operates 29 intermodal centers in 22 states to transfer its 47,000 shipping containers.

Big retail companies like Wal-Mart haven’t bothered to build their distribution centers along rail lines, in part because, until recently, railroads haven’t been much interested in carrying package freight or produce. They’ve specialized in bulk shipments, and about 80 percent of their revenue traffic today is coal. With rising fuel prices, however, railroads now carry about 70 percent of all containerized intermodal cargo. The limiting factor is choke points in the rail system. For instance, rail freight can’t pass through Chicago without being trucked between two intermodal points, adding two days to the trip.

Seth Masia ( smasia@solartoday.org) is deputy editor of SOLAR TODA Y.

cially and politically Feasible?” page 35).

With a Crr of about 0.01, a truck’s rubber tire has roughly 10 times more drag than a steel wheel. and a modern over-the-road truck cruises at about 65 mph (105 kph). a full-size truck is smaller than a locomotive, but the speed difference means it generates about six times as much aerodynamic drag. The result: Today’s trucks move freight at about 130 tmg on interstate routes. That’s a big improvement compared to 20 years ago, when the long-haul truck fleet averaged 5 mpg and 90 tmg.