Freight and the City: Distribution in the New York Metropolitan Area

1
Freight and the CityDistribution in the New
York Metropolitan Area

• Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
• Dept. of Economics Geography
• Hofstra University
• Hempstead, NY

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Outline

• Urban Freight Transportation
• Neglected aspect of transport and urban
  geography
• Most of the focus on urban passengers
  transportation.
• Importance emphasized by
• Globalization and division of production.
• Rising consumption and commodification of
  society.
• Development of intermodal transportation /
  integration in the transport industry.
• Freight Capital New York / New Jersey
• 2nd largest passengers and air freight gateway in
  the world.
• 3rd largest container port in the US.
• Challenges of Urban Freight Distribution

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Urban Freight Transportation

• Producers of freight
• Industrial location.
• Waste disposal.
• Consumers of freight
• Industrial, commercial / retail geography.
• Energy demand.
• Distribution
• Terminals.
• Warehousing.
• Supply / commodity chains.

Raw materials and parts
B
A
B
A
A
Manufacturing
City B
City A
Sales and distribution
4
Functional Integration of Supply Chains

• Integration
• Land and maritime distribution systems.
• Growing level of functional integration.
• Mergers and acquisition.
• Development of economies of scale in
  distribution.
• Cities
• Gateways / articulation.

Maritime Distribution
Land Distribution
Custom Agent
Shipping Agent
Trucking
Rail / Trucking
Stevedore
Freight Forwarder
Shipping Line
Depot
Economies of scale
Megacarrier
Level of functional integration
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Urban Freight Transportation

• Conventional geography of distribution
• Port / rail convergence.
• Next to urban core (proximity / agglomeration).
• New Geography of Distribution
• 1) Sub-harborization
• 2) Sub-urbanization of distribution
• New agglomeration economies
• Accessibility related (road terminals).
• Not much interactions between activities.
• All part of their own supply chains.
• Road / rail convergence.
• Suburban freight clusters.

Distribution / warehousing
Transport terminal
Conventional Situation
Maritime Interface
Agglomeration of distribution
2
2
Freight Diversion
Maritime Interface
Emerging Situation
1
6
Urban Freight Transportation

• Freight Corridors / Clusters
• Regionalization of distribution.
• Concentration of freight distribution activities
  in clusters.
• Cluster linked to an intermodal terminal and / or
  a road corridor.

(A) Metropolitan
Intermodal Corridor
Spheres of Distribution
(B) Regional / Corridor
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The Suburbanization of Distribution Centers

• Physical characteristics of the facility
• One level.
• High clearance (racks).
• Physical characteristics of the site
• Availability of land and price.
• Access to the highway system (corridor).
• Market area expansion
• The further away from the city center, the larger
  the market area.
• Linked to a corridor of distribution.
• Higher reliability for JIT.

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Freight Challenges in New York Context

• The gateway function
• Large international terminals (port and
  airports).
• Serves the Eastern Seaboard.
• Local geography
• Major bottlenecks bridges.
• The Hudson.
• Manhattan.
• Long Island.
• Local economy
• Service oriented.
• High level of consumption.

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Container Traffic Handled by the Port of New
York, 1991-2002
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Rail Freight Corridors and Port Facilities
New York
New Jersey
Bronx
Manhattan
NJ Distribution Cluster
Long Island
Queens
Brooklyn
Staten Island
Port Terminal
Intermodal Terminal
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Distribution of General Cargo Operations, Port of
New York, 1959, 1987 and 2000
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Intermodal Facilities and Navigation Channels of
the Port of New York, 2003
Albers Equal-Area Conic Projection
East River
40
45
Hudson River
1- Port Newark 2- Port Elizabeth 3- Global Marine
43
Newark Bay Channel
40
Red Hook
40
1
3
Upper Bay Channel
South Brooklyn
2
45
Brooklyn
45
Daily Truck Movements (one way), 2001
37
Kill Van Kull Channel
Howland Hook
New Jersey
45
37
Arthur Kill Channel
The Narrows
Staten Island
Navigation Channel
Ambrose Channel
45
45
30
Control Depth (feet)
Main Ship Channel
N
Intermodal Terminal
37
Arthur Kill Channel
37
Container Port (proposed)
Raritan Bay Channel
Major Highway
Proposed rail tunnel
13
Regional Highway System
Hudson River
Long Island Sound
Lower New York Bay
Raritan Bay
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Truck Freight Corridors
New York
New Jersey
TZB
Connecticut
GWB
Bronx
TBB
TNB
LT
WSB
Manhattan
LGA
Long Island
HT
Queens
EWR
GTB
BYB
Brooklyn
JFK
VZB
Staten Island
Major Crossing
OCB
About 70 million trucks crossings per year
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Freight handled at New Yorks Major Airports,
1985-2002 (in short tons)
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Challenges of Urban Freight Distribution

• Distribution facilities
• Migrating to more affordable locations in the
  periphery.
• Growth in tons-km.
• Competition between passengers (commuters) and
  freight traffic.
• Urban supply chains
• Difficulties to maintain just-in-time and timely
  supply.
• Adaptation of modes and delivery times.

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Port Inland Distribution Network
Albany
Syracuse
Boston
Hartford / Springfield
Worcester / Framingham
Davisville
New Haven
Bridgeport
Potential Regional Barge Port
New York
Reading
LO/LO Barge Service
Philadelphia
Inland Rail Terminal
New York Metropolitan Area
Wilmington
Inland Rail Route
Hanover
Camden
Volume to Capacity
LOS
Salem
Potential Freight Catchment Area
0 0.30 (A) 0.31 0.50 (B) 0.51 0.71 (C) 0.72
0.89 (D) 0.90 1.15 (E) 1.15 (F)
Baltimore
Freight Cluster
Washington