PWIMS
   Mission Area
   Environment
   Need

1.MISSION AREA

a. WATERWAYS ROLE

THE PHYSICAL WATERWAY SYSTEM

To begin, it is appropriate to define the physical extent of the commercially navigable U.S. waterway system. The waterway system is perceived differently by each party who has an interest in it, making this a consistent problem over the years. At its heart it is a collection of water resources development projects. These projects include the inland waterway network as well as deep-water ports and harbors throughout the United States and its territories.

Physically this system consists of an extensive network of rivers and coastal waterways comprising about 25,000 miles. The inland waterways form a network with nearly 12,000 miles of routes for shallow-draft commercial vessels. The inland waterway system consists of three geographic sub-systems that function independently of each other. Each sub-system has distinctive characteristics. The first sub-system comprises the Mississippi River and its tributaries, along with the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and the rivers that intersect it. This sub-system accounts for 86 percent of the total length of the overall system. The second largest geographic sub-system is the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway with 11 percent of the total length and finally the shortest sub-system is the Columbia-Snake with 3 percent of the total length.

WATERWAY BENEFITS

Waterway navigation projects provide economic, as well as national defense benefits and their value can not be understated. The distinctive attribute of waterways is their multiple uses. To a greater extent than any other transportation mode, the waterways have a higher use and value for purposes other than transportation. Some of these benefits include flood control, municipal and industrial water supply, recreation, irrigation for agriculture, fish and wildlife support, and military defense. The fundamental purpose for investing in the waterways is economic development.

Their primary value however, is for intercity freight transport. Waterways are still the most efficient transportation mode for moving large volumes of lower valued cargo. The largest inland barge can carry as much as 3,000 tons, and multiple barge tows are very fuel efficient. For those shippers who can use waterways they provide a low-cost alternative. In fact measured in terms of ton-miles, the total inland and Great Lakes systems consistently handle about 15% of the total inter-city freight traffic. If coastal routes are added in the intercity freight traffic ton-miles shifts up to 27 percent. More impressive though is the fact that 99.5% of the overseas trade by volume is moved through U.S. ports. The largest waterway commodity in terms of ton-miles is coal, followed by petroleum products and then grain products.

FEDERAL PARTICIPATION

Basically the reason for the Federal governments participation is to encourage commerce, facilitate competition and hence contribute to the public's well-being. Federal participation is limited to developing, funding and operating waterways or vessel routes. Users participate in this funding by cost sharing both inland waterways and port projects. All Harbor maintenance is paid by users through a trust fund. The principle Federal agency managing the waterways is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The Corps responsibility is to plan, design, build, and operate water resources and other civil works projects. The Corps efforts account for most of the federal expenditures on the system, in particular for the improvement and operation of the waterways. The Civil Works mission of the Corps is divided into five distinct categories: Navigation, flood control, recreation, environmental stewardship, and hydro-power. Foremost among them is navigation with 1.5 to 2 billion dollars expended annually. The navigation program includes all of the nations deep draft harbors as well as hundreds of smaller harbors that serve both recreational and commercial purposes. The Corps builds and maintains both commercial inland navigation channels and over 200 locks and dams.

DATA COLLECTION

A critical step in the Corps responsibility involves data collection. The Corps navigation data collection responsibility dates back nearly 130 years, to 1866. The Corps centralized its navigation data management in 1987, creating a national center of expertise at the Navigation Data Center (NDC) in Alexandria, Virginia. NDC operates and manages the Corps and Federal navigation data program. This Center is the sole national source for statistics on the use, physical characteristics, and operations of the U.S. commercial navigation system. Although the Corps is the primary user, the data and statistics are available to all government agencies, ports, maritime industries, private organizations and individuals. NDC is responsible for establishing and maintaining a variety of navigation-oriented databases. These include databases of waterborne commerce, domestic commercial vessels, port facilities, lock facilities, lock operations, and navigation dredging projects. In addition NDC recently completed a digital 100,000 scale centerline waterway network. The national scope involves data collection from nearly 10,000 waterway facilities, thousands of commercial carriers, plus direct input on lock performance and dredging from Corps district offices. Geographically all 50 states and territories are covered. The data collected by NDC is essential to insure efficient, effective and safe passage of vessels on the nation's waterways.

To make certain that the Corps decisions are based on the best available data, database modernization is continual. This provides more timely, accurate and flexible information. Modernization includes standardizing terms, improving software and hardware, and inter-agency coordination. Recently the Corps has taken significant strides in providing data electronically through the Internet.

2. MISSION AREA ENVIRONMENT

PWS has the primary mission to collect, review, analyze, prepare, edit, and publish data on the physical and intermodal characteristics of the coastal, Great Lakes, and inland ports in the United States. Ports and Waterways information began publishing its information in the year 1921, and began collecting electronically in 1987.

The data consists of complete listings of port area's waterfront facilities, including detailed information on berthing accommodations, petroleum and bulk handling terminals, grain elevators, warehouses, cranes, transit sheds, marine repair plants, fleeting areas, floating equipment, and docking and storage facilities. PWS also provides dock location data for Waterborne Commerce Statistic Center's port and dock code manual as well as for input to the Center's AIS.

a. Functional Concept

PWS prepares and provides Port Series Reports and database packages under authority of U.S. statutes in support of customer needs. PWS serves to collect, process, and disseminate accurate Port & Waterway information to Corps operators and planners and the USCG, Maritime Commission, MARAD, MTMC (identify facilities for national defense), intelligence community, and other Federal agencies. Data is collected on-site at each facility, and then input into the PWS, which is managed and distributed by the Navigation Data Center.

b. Information Flows and Information Handling Capabilities

PWS data is collected at the pier, dock, and wharf site by professional engineers on a rotational basis to ensure on-site accuracy at each facility. The time span of on-site data source collection varies from 1 to 10 years. Other data from facility operators, port organizations, transportation companies, Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center, and other Federal, state and local agencies are collected, analyzed, and updated on an ongoing basis. Once collected, the data is analyzed and the PWS is then updated. The data is extracted for the 56 Port Series Reports published at intervals of approximately 10 years, covering approximately 200 individual port areas. Summary and historical data are frequently made available upon request. The data may be extracted from the PWS and processed through locally developed programs as input to special studies.

3. MISSION NEED

a. Scope of the Mission

As the only Federal agency that has the primary mission to collect, review, analyze, prepare, and publish data on the physical and intermodal characteristics of commercial port facilities, the PWS is the "clearing-house" for all commercial port information in the Federal government under authority of section 7 of the River and Harbor Act of July 19, 1918, Section 500 of the Transportation Act of February 28, 1920, and Section 8 of the Merchant Marine Act of June 5, 1920. All agencies in the port field rely on the Corps to provide information on ports which is impartial and unbiased, standard in terminology, uniform in format, and official in nature.

Users of PWS data include, but not limited to:

Corps of Engineers

OCE:Mobilization, Emergency Management,Navigation, Dredging, and Planning.

WRSC:NDC, WCSC, and IWR.

Divisions/Districts Regulatory Functions, Port Mobilization:Plans, Project Management, Reservoir Regulation, and Emergency Management.

DoD Agencies: MTMC, DCA, Naval Control of Shipping, Naval Sealift Command, ONI, TRANSCOM, GCAC, DISA.

Dept of Transportation, State / Local Govt, Private Industry: MARAD, BTS and USCG, Planners and regulatory functions, Pilots, Ocean Shipping Agencies, Port Authorities, and Commodity Shippers.

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Comments or Questions Contact: Ports & Waterways Div. NDC CEIWR-NDC-P 7701 Telegraph Rd., Casey Bldg. Alexandria, VA 22315 (703) 428-9061