Great Lakes transport of western coal: economic and technical analysis
A comprehensive investigation of coal transportation from western mines via railroad unit trains plus water transport on the Great Lakes covers in detail: the design of coal colliers for the Great Lakes as limited in size by the Poe lock at Sault Ste. Marie or by river destinations; effects of ice freezing on the lakes or on the coal cargo; problems of designing for alternative transport of taconite pellets; the economic effects of variations in ship characteristics; the effect of fuel price and of operation through the winter; economic comparison of transport alternatives for various pairs of sources and destinations; the advantage (vs. a slurry pipeline) of being able to expand on a unit-by-unit basis; and that the rail-water route is lowest in cost for all destinations on the Great Lakes east of Detroit, but direct unit-train service to Chicago is either equal or superior to the rail-water combination. (''A unitrain operating on level track is a most energy-efficient producer of transportation and only an extremely large vessel can approach or equal this performance'').
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of Michigan
- OSTI ID:
- 5107496
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-7705199-
- Journal Information:
- Mar. Technol.; (United States), Vol. 15:2; Conference: Society of Marine Engineers and Naval Architects - great lakes and great rivers meeting, Ann Arbor, MI, USA, 19 May 1977
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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COAL
TRANSPORT
TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
FEDERAL REGION V
REVIEWS
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
DOCUMENT TYPES
EFFICIENCY
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
MATERIALS
NORTH AMERICA
USA
013000* - Coal
Lignite
& Peat- Transport
Handling
& Storage
015000 - Coal
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& Peat- Economic
Industrial
& Business Aspects