Mississippi State University researchers are working to help relieve problems in getting imports from the coastal Mississippi ports to the interior of the state.
Civil engineering professor Bill McAnally is the principle investigator of an experiment that is trying to determine the best way to eliminate congestion in these areas.
McAnally said the main problem lies in the fact that three different entities are all trying to control the state’s trade. Private corporations own the railways, state and local governments control the highway system, and the waterways are built by the federal government but operated by local governments and private individuals. So, there is no central authority and communication lines become skewed.
It is McAnally’s job to come up with a solution. He and engineering professors Yunlong Zhang, Albert Allen and Royce Bowden are working together using a Virtual Intermodal Transportation System simulator Bowden created.
Bowden is the director of the National Center for Intermodal Transportation.
“It’s kind of like a video game,” Bowden said. “The VITS simulates freight trucks traveling through the state, ships coming into the three main ports (Gulfport, Pascagoula and Bienville), and barges running up and down the Mississippi River.”
The simulator allows for experimentation with different options throughout the state. Any aspect of trade can be changed to maximize the freight running through one area. This way ideas for improvement can be tested before money is spent, Bowden said.
“Actual calculations were used to determine the number of trucks carrying cargo throughout Mississippi,” McAnally said.
Money for the research project came from the Mississippi Department of Transportation, the NCIT, and the United States Department of Transportation as well. The university is working in conjunction with the University of Denver, which also uses funding from the federal Department of Transportation.
When McAnally presents his research to various groups, he says they are enthusiastic. He hopes he can use this information as a planning tool and to act as a common language among the various trading entities.
“It remains to be seen what the results will be,” McAnally said.
This research is needed now because trade from Latin America is expected to increase in the next few decades. Ports in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana will need to be able to accommodate this influx in goods coming from the South.
“It’s got to go somewhere,” said Bowden. “If Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana can’t handle it, then the imports will go through Texas and Savannah, Ga.”
Bowden said the loss of trade could ultimately lead to a reduction in the states’ revenue from imports.
Tom White, head of the civil engineering department and director of the Mississippi Transportation Research Center, said, “As a result (of this project) the state will be able to plan future investments into intermodal facilities that will ensure Mississippi companies participate in intermodal transportation opportunities and that industries will have more direct, efficient means of moving products to markets.”
McAnally’s research affects more than Southeastern states. MSU students are also taking part in this project.
“The experience is being brought into undergraduate classes and graduate students are participating directly in the research. As a result, graduates will be able to address increasingly complex transportation issues and projects. Those graduates will be increasingly in demand,” White said.
“Having traveled and seen intermodal transportation systems around the world, I have felt there was unrealized potential in the United States. We have faculty with the knowledge and experience to contribute to development of intermodal transportation in the state and region. The impact will be felt nationally and internationally,” White added.