Shipping costs barges

The primary cost variable in barge shipments is fuel a midsize towboat can consume 5000 gal (18.9 kl) of diesel fuel daily. Barge shipments are also dependent on weather conditions low water or frozen rivers and canals can halt shipments. As ivith ocean vessels, the barges that move coal also ship other bulk commodities, making the rates and availability of barges for coal shipments dependent on conditions in other markets. Backliaiils (i.e., shipment of one commodity to a terminal and return with a different product) can substantially reduce coal rates. 

Liquids are most economically stored in bulk containers. When large quantities above 25,000 gal must be stored, the tanks should be constructed to the dimensions given by the American Petroleum Institute Standards (see Table 5-2). These tanks must be field-erected. For smaller quantities more economical shop-constructed tanks should be specified. Field fabrication is always more expensive than shop fabrication. A shop-constructed item, in general, must be less than 11.5 ft (3.5 m) in diameter, so that it can be shipped by truck or train. For any piece of equipment that must be shop-fabricated, or for which the cost of field construction is prohibitive, this limitation should be noted. When barges may be used for transportation, this limitation does not hold. 

The large scale transport of solids is conducted in large ocean going ships and barges with relatively simple off-loading and on-loading machinery. For example for coal, trans-oceanic transport costs are relatively low. Typical intercontinental costs are 10/t (Australia - Japan) or about 0.33/GJ. For smaller parcels of solids - resins etc. - the world large container fleet can be used. 

Geography and infrastructure. To be commercially attractive, deposits should be close to the main markets or have a convenient low-cost means of transport. In general, with lime and limestone products, there are fairly well defined limits on the distance to which they may be transported economically. In many parts of the UK, for example, the economic limit for hauling limestone by road for construction projects is only 40 to 80 km. That distance can be extended to over 150 km with rail transport direct from the quarry to the customer and to even greater distances if ships or barges can be used. 

Those quarries fortunate enough to have good access to a navigable river, or to the sea, can barge or ship their products over considerable distances, at a low cost per tonne, to major customers and depots with suitable reception facilities. 

However, transport capacities of ships and barges are generally larger than train capacities. Hence, transport cost rates per volume and distance unit are typically higher for rail transports. Since most large-scaled chemical production sites have waterway access, raw materials are typically supphed via ship transports, but intermediate and minor basic chemicals are often transported via rail e.g. because the distribution structure is disperse and/or not all customers/suppliers have waterway access. 

While it is likely that barge- or ship-mounted systems can be optimized at lai er powers than their land-based cousins, we believe the advantages provided by mass production of veiy standardized units will eliminate any minor cost advantage a larger system mi t enjoy for barge-mounted applications. 

The above discussion supposes that the vendor assembles all fabricated process equipment before shipping it to the plant for installation. In some cases, equipment cannot be shipped to the plant site in one piece and pre-installation field assembly will be required. Examples are furnaces and very large distillation colmnns and other vessels, which cannot be trucked, barged, or sent by rail in one piece to the plant site. Large columns may be fabricated in sections in the shops of the vendor and transported to the plant site where the sections are welded in a horizontal orientation before the column is erected to a vertical position. In this chapter, the purchase cost of field-assembled equipment includes the cost of pre-installation assembly at the plant site. Field-assembly costs are usually included in the purchase-cost quote from a vendor. 

The cost of shipping coal by train is often more than the mining costs. Using a barge or ship to move coal is a lot less expensive. In the United States, there are 25,000 miles of waterways, but not enough to reach all destinations in the country. To reduce transportation costs, power plants are sometimes constructed near coal mines. 

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