Container Ship Routing: Panama Canal vs. U.S. Land Bridge

Abstract

In our work, we investigate choices for container ship transportation from the eastern Pacific to the western Atlantic based solely on time. Choices include traveling through the Panama Canal or using the U.S. as a land bridge (via truck and rail car). A breakeven methodology, given vessel size, is employed to discriminate between paths. Interested parties of our work might include those investigating multi-modal integration opportunities, those seeking transportation efficiencies in water, truck and rail, and students as a case assignment in Transportation and Logistics courses.