T R A N S P O R TAT I O N Waterborne Transport Waterborne transportation modes, such as inland waterways, the Great Lakes, coastal shipments and ocean freight, are also vital components in moving coal and minerals to market. Among major U.S. waterborne commodities, coal and coke shipments totaled 224 million tons in 2017, ranking it as the largest, according to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ data. Other major mining products, including sand, gravel, iron ore, other ores and metal products, also registered significant tonnage totals. Coal, limestone and iron ore are the major commodities shipped on the Great Lakes. Mining commodities like cement, salt and sand are among other dry bulk cargoes with significant tonnage totals. The largest ships on the Great Lakes can carry more than 70,000 tons of cargo.
2018 Great Lakes Coal and
As with rail lines, inland barge lines have increased their effiMineral Shipments (net tons) ciency in recent years. Modern 1,500-ton capacity barges are Iron Ore 45,804,433 in service on waterways with shipping channels that allow the Coal 11,816,332 use of larger units, including the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and Limestone 21,961,950 some of their tributaries, replacing older 1,000-ton capacity Lake Carriers’ Association barges. The 1,500-ton capacity barges carry the equivalent of 15 train cars or as many as 60 semi trucks. The average towboat on the Upper Mississippi River pushes 15 of these barges — five barges deep and three abreast. That’s the equivalent of a train three miles long or a line of trucks stretching more than 35 miles. In addition, barge lines make broad use of modern communications and command and control technology for assuring fleets are scheduled in a manner that minimizes the movement of empty barges and optimizes the number of loaded barges handled by individual towboats.
Truck Transportation Trucks are essential to U.S. mining, whether hauling ore-laden rock from a mine to processing facility or taking a shipment of coal short distances to local power plants or trans-shipment terminals. In coal mining, trucks carry more than 65 million tons annually directly to electric generating facilities and another 10 million tons or more to other consuming sectors. Trucks generally hold 20 to 35 tons of coal per shipment in single unit and combined tractor trailer types of on-road vehicles. The maximum load a truck can carry on highways is regulated by state laws. Special haul trucks that remain on mine property can be of enormous size, sometimes holding more than 400 tons of material. 28
