Marine transportation system performance measures research
Abstract Performance measures for the marine transportation system (MTS) span many operational categories including economic benefits, capacity and reliability, safety and security, environmental stewardship, and resilience. The measures of greatest interest to any one group of stakeholders depend upon their underlying values and goals; however, some measures have been identified by expert groups as fundamental to understanding MTS operations. Within the United States, multiple Federal agencies have a role in maintaining and regulating the MTS. This has resulted in compartmentalized authorities and data collection efforts, unintentionally limiting the access to and utility of multiple data sets. The research presented in this technical report provides historical context for the development of performance measures for Federally managed MTS infrastructure, identifies authoritative data sources (or relevant proxies) for performance measures of interest, and provides extracted data that allows for assessment of performance over time. This work lays the foundation for examining MTS performance as an interconnected system and within a larger intermodal supply chain network. The final section suggests using observed data to develop models that explore a wide range of future scenarios and provide insight into potential effects on MTS performance.